The Lost Eyes
by tripplefrozen
Summary: When Ayano loses her entire family in a massacre, she thinks that things can't get much worse. But of course they do! When she is captured by the Akatsuki, then she's pretty sure that it can't get worse...Yeah right! Eventual ItachixOC T for language. R&R
1. The Rykugan

**Author: Hello, everyone! Okay, this is my first fanfic on Naruto, and just as a warning, the characters may, and probably will, be out of character, so technically, you can't kill me. Right? And if you decide _not_ to kill me, please review! :) All comments will be greatly appreciated. **

**Oh, and here's the disclaimer: obviously, I do not own Naruto or any of the characters and things in Naruto, or else I would have just made a whole different series or something. There. **

**So, here we go- **

**iLiKeChEeSeAnDcOoKiEs: Yesh! :)**

**Author: ... *sigh* Ummmm, yes? What do you want? *what am I going to do with her...?***

**P.S.: I went back and edited this chapter...My description of Ayano was way too Mary-sue-ish, I think, among other things, so... Yeah. Read and Review! **

The Lost Eyes—Chapter 1

The Rykugan—

* * *

><p>A huge explosion shook the earth as I dove to the right. I only had a moment to perform the earth barrier jutsu that would shield me from the debris before they were on me again.<p>

_Left block. High block. Tck- _A kunai in my shoulder sent a shock of pain to my brain and caused me to pause for a millisecond. _High kick. Dive. Punch. Jump. Throw. _A cloud of smoke covered the area as a result of the five shadow clones I had managed to kill.

I crouched in the center of the clearing. It used to be a forest, but the area had been destroyed due to our fighting. One of them kept throwing bomb after bomb, and the result was a smoking area full of rubble. My attackers had come out of nowhere as I was walking in through the forest, and I barely had time to dodge the barrage of kunai streaking towards me, let alone survey my opponents. Now, though, I saw that there were four figures, all wearing the same long, black cloak with red clouds and wide straw hats.

_Wait a second. The rumors… It can't be- the Akatsuki? No wonder they're so powerful. _I had heard rumors of a powerful organization known as the Akatsuki. No one knew who they were, what they wanted, or even if they were real. I had only been able to survive this long because of the Rykugan I possessed, which I assumed was also the reason they had come after me.

The Rykugan was an almost unheard of dōjutsu, and with its deep blue color and swirling black lines, it was as powerful as it was rare. The beholder could perform jutsus of every element, as well as summon a dragon if they were sufficiently trained, more or less powerful depending on the user's skill. I, however, was not. With the Rykugan's rarity, there was no one to teach me or my twin sister Chihiro, so we just trained each other. _A lot of good that did us. All it did was get both of us captured and her killed by some power-hungry maniac. _I winced inwardly at the sharp, painful memories brought back by the thought of my sister, but I ruthlessly pushed them back down, focusing on the task at hand.

After my sister died, I had sought out a blacksmith to create a sword that would both amplify my power and compensate for my rudimentary training. The Dragon's Fang was designed to channel and manipulate chakra, which made it much easier for me to control the elements. It would also aid in summoning my dragon, but I refused to do that after the events that transpired over five years ago.

I took the sword out and the dying sunlight glinted off the three foot long, shimmering blade, sending off a myriad of colors. Depending on how I swung the Dragon's Fang, it would release a fire, water, earth, wind, or lightening jutsu. The Akatsuki focused on the blade for a moment, the proceeded to attack with my renewed vigor.

_Uppercut. Back slice. Spin. Diagonal. Side Cut. Fire. Water. Earth. Wind. Lightening. _I had been throwing off a massive onslaught of jutsus, while simultaneously deflecting attacks from the Akatsuki. My stores of chakra were rapidly depleting, and my body had already undergone a large amount of physical abuse. I had shallow, but painful cuts covering my entire body, and darkening bruises mottled my flesh. There were several deep cuts on my thighs and upper arms, as well a puncture wounds where several kunai had pierced me. My black leggings and long sleeved shirt were in tatters; my long black hair was disheveled and soaked in blood. No amount of special help from my abilities or sword could make up for my lack of any substantial ninja training. Any skills I had I acquired through training with my sister or teaching myself, and I was nowhere _near _my opponents' level of skill. I was near my limit, and severely outmatched, but I would _not _give up.

I threw a torrent of icicles at one of them, and managed to puncture him a few times. That was probably the first time I'd actually gotten a hit in on on of the real Akatsuki, not just a shadow clone. He cursed and a huge expanding-scythe thing came out, streaking its way towards me. I ducked and missed it, barely, and just in time, too. After I blocked a series of kunai and shurikans and was preparing for a counterattack, a powerful and commanding voice rang out through the clearing.

"Enough."

I froze, as did the rest of the Akatsuki, and turned to see a figure stepping out from the desecrated ruins of the forest. He had fiery orange, spiky hair, as well as piercings along the side his nose and beneath his mouth. He also wore the Akatsuki cloak, but unlike the others, he exuded an air of power and authority. But it wasn't his striking appearance that caught me off guard- it was his eyes.

His eyes were grey with rings radiating from the center. I took a step back in surprise. _Those eyes... he possesses the Rinnegan. _This legendary dōjutsu was as rare, if not more rare than the Rykugan, and was much more powerful, infinitely more so when wielded by one trained in its uses. The first one with the Rinnegan was the Sage of Six Paths, a legendary man who had become the ten tails Jinchuriki, then sealed away the ten tails into nine other beasts. He was all-powerful, and no one else had been recorded who had the Rinnegan since him.

While I was staring in shock, I heard murmured responses of "Leader-sama" from the other Akatsuki surrounding me. They obviously harbored deep respect for this man, and I could easily understand why. He was probably extremely well-trained, and with those eyes, I had no doubt he was almost invincible.

Considering the position I was in, I had no chance. I was almost out of chakra and my body was in tatters. Both mentally and physically, I was exhausted. "This fight has dragged on for far too long," he said to the other Akatsuki members. "No matter what sort of dōjutsu she possesses, she is weak, and you should have been able to finish her off by now." Then, he turned back to me. "So far, you have managed to survive against these four. But I promise you, you stand no chance against me. I suggest you give up now, while you still have a choice."

_Good luck with that._ I already knew I wasn't going to win this fight, but I was _not_ going to just lie down and die.

With this in mind, I readied myself for another attack, but not before I saw movement in the corner of my eye. I spun around to see a man who bore a striking resemblance to the fire-haired "Leader." He had the same hair, except tied into a ponytail, piercings, the Akatsuki cloak, and the Rinnegan. _How… Is this the true power of the Rinnegan? _Before I could do anything, he grabbed hold of me and shoved a cloth that reeked of something terrible into my face.

As my consciousness drifted away and my eyes slowly closed, I had time only to think, _Dammit… Not again… _as a single hot, salty tear streaked down my face.

* * *

><p><em>(Five years prior) <em>

_"Check this out, Aya!" A girl of about 13 years performed an earth splitting jutsu that created a fifteen foot long, three foot wide fissure in the ground. Chihiro Kiyomizu was moderately chubby and stood at slightly less than average height. Her tan skin contrasted well with her iridescent, pale silver hair that hung in long, wavy locks to her waist. Chihiro's eyes were quite unusual; the deep blue color and swirling black lines showed that she possessed the practically unheard-of Rykugan. She was levelheaded, calm, and had an analytical and logical mind. _

_"Nice, Chio! Now try to beat this!" Ayano then executed a fairly large fireball jutsu. Before the deadly flames reached the trees, she called up a water barrier to extinguish them. In stark contrast to her twin Chihiro, Ayano was taller than average and all lean muscle. Jet black hair cascaded in straight sheets down to the middle of her back. Ayano was hotheaded, quick to anger, and often made irrational decisions based solely on her emotions. Such were their differences that the only thing they shared was the Rykugan. _

_Ayano and Chihiro looked at each other and grinned. They stood in the middle of a clearing that was cut out from thousands of acres of dense forest, far away from those would try to harm them. _

_A short, plump woman stepped out from the small wooden house at the edge of the clearing. Mitsuko Kiyomizu shared very few simalarities with her twin daughters; she was fair skinned, had emerald green eyes that sparkled in the sunlight, and a full head of scarlet curls that bounced up and down as she practically skipped over to Ayano and Chihiro, who looked with affection on their thirty-four year old mother. _

_When she reached them, she said, "Amazing! Simply amazing, my dears. You two have come so far, and I can't tell you how proud I am!" _

_Her eyes were shining with proud tears, and she went kind of overkill on the whole "adoring mother" thing, but that just made Ayano and Chihiro love her even more. Then, her green eyes flashed in anticipation as Mitsuko said, "Now try to summon your dragons, just like we practiced."_

_Ayano and Chihiro snapped into focus, and they stood at attention, spreading their feet slightly and bringing their hands together, palm to palm. Simultaneously they closed their eyes. At first, nothing happened. Suddenly, the two began glowing, their immense chakra shrouding the twins in a thick haze. Ayano's chakra glowed gold and Chihiro's chakra glowed silver. _

_The glowing haze began to shift; the chakra was coming to life and shaping into long, slender forms. Finally, the haze solidified into two twenty-foot long dragons: a brilliant golden one for Ayano and a shimmering silver one for Chihiro. The dragons began moving, twirling and twisting around the two girls._

_After a moment, they broke off to stare at their summoners. Suddenly, Ayano and Chihiro opened their eyes, which were no longer the Rykugan. Instead, the pupil had morphed into a ten-pointed star, and the whites were now a deep blue. The girls stared at the dragons, talking to them through their minds, and the dragons began to perform a series of jutsus and attacks. Ayano and Chihiro were already communicating and training their dragons to attack for them, and their mother was amazed. _

_Mitsuko stared in wonder and was about to congratulate them—it was their first real summoning after all—when a deafening crash resounded through the clearing and shook the ground as the family's house disappeared into the dark abyss that had suddenly appeared, sending up and enormous cloud of dust. A huge shurikan hurtled out of the settling dust and buried itself in Mitsuko's chest just as she turned around. In shock, Ayano and Chihiro stared in horror, their dragons assuming a protective stance as a shadowed figure stepped out of the debris._

_He was tall with a huge mane of black hair that looked rather like a hedgehog's. Ayano would have laughed, but she was too stricken with her mother's sudden death. Ruby eyes glinted in the dying sunlight, the mark of the Uchiha's Sharingan, and their special design showed that he also possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan. _

_The girls and their dragons prepared to fight, and dozens of ninja poured out of the settling dust. The battle raged on, and the twins and thier dragons were holding their own. But the longer the battle continued, the more exausted the untrained girls became, and they were slowly beaten back to the edge of the forest. The dragons were suffering from severe injuries, and when the girls called them back to avoid their deaths, the enemy ninja surged forth and captured the twins in an inescapable grip. Ayano and Chihiro kicked and fought, but could no break free. The hedgehog man stepped forward with a sneer on his hace._

_"Struggle all you want, you pathtic little children. I _will_ have those eyes." Ayano and Chihiro winced slightly at that, and he laughed._

_"Damn you," Ayano screamed as tears of anger streaked down her face. "Let us go you freaky psychotic hedgehog!"_

_Chihiro, however, was much quieter. "Ayano, you have to calm down; we need to think this through." Chihiro was running thorugh all the possible scenarios in her mind, just as she practiced, but she knew that right now, there was no hope for her and her twin sister. _

_"I can hear everything you're saying, children," Hedgehog had a very bored look on his face. "And I can see what you're planning. So just give it up." With that, he turned away, laughing maniacallly, and walked off towards the other side of the clearing. "Hurry up and bring them. We have a long ways to go. _

* * *

><p><em>Three years later, Ayano and Chihiro sat back to back in silence, bored out of their minds without anything to do in this prison. It was damp, pitch-black except for the occasional lantern, moist, and reeked of decay. Ayano and Chihiro lived in this horrible, underground, rotting prison, ate the meager portions of food given to them, and worst of all, had to undergo torture every other day or so. <em>

_Suddenly, Chihiro heard footsteps coming down the hall and nudged Ayano out of her daydreaming. The twins stood, bracing themselves for another "examination," or rather, torture session, during which Hedgehog gave them a series of drugs and shots to see how their bodies and minds would react to the toxins, and it wasn't usually a very pleasant reaction. Oh, and don't forget the "testing their regenerative power." In other words, hacking off fingers and occasionally arms to see how well they grew back. Their powers were extremely useful, but they only went so far. Needless to say, these were not pleasant times for the twins. _

_Supposedly, all this was to force them into evoking their dragons and making Ayano and Chihiro into his mindless personal minions. So far, Hedgehog had been unsuccessful, at least as far as the twins were concerned. A couple times they had passed out due to an exploding pain in their minds and awoken several hours later to an unusually chipper Hedgehog, but that was it. Sometimes Ayano wondered if he didn't do it just for his own sick pleasure. He _was_ a psychotic Hedgehog; who knew what was going on in that head of his. _

_One of Hedgehog's henchmen that always came to get them opened the door. As he did, an unbreakable hand cuff jutsu activated, sealing off our chakra and securing the twins' wrists together. As they walked down the dimly lit hallway, Ayano could make out his shock of white, spiky hair. "Hey, Albino Porcupine, why doesn't ol' Hedgehog ever come get us? Too lazy, huh?" _

_He didn't answer at first, but after a while when we reached a door, he stopped and said, "I would highly advise you to keep your snarky comments to yourself or you will suffer the consequences. _

_"Fine then, you Albino Porcupine pooper." Ayano stuck her tongue out at him while Chihiro sighed._

_He growled at that and shoved Ayano and Chihiro into the dimly lit room. As her eyes adjusted, Ayano could see the ruby glint of Hedgehog's eyes. She stiffened in surprise, as did Chihiro; he didn't have his usual surgeon cronies. Instead, the only thing in the room was a gurney with restraining bands attached. Then Ayano and Chihiro both looked back at him, which was a big mistake; he instantly had them trapped under his genjutsu._

_"It's your lucky day, girls." He chuckled menacingly as he led Chihiro over to the gurney and strapped her down, leading Ayano to stand beside him. She could barely hear him through the foggy haze that clouded her brain. _

_"You get to see me take out your sister's precious Rykugan, and hear her screams of pain. Then, I'll do the same to you, and let you experience it for yourself. I've learned all I can from you. You two are useless since I have been unable to extract the dragon from you."_

_Minutes, then hours passed as Ayano was forced to watch Hedgehog take the Rykugan out of Chihiro, as well as other body parts, presumably to experiment on later. _That sick bastard was probably going to try to clone her or something along those lines, _Ayano thought bitterly._

_Ayano was frozen under Hedgehog's genjutsu, but inside, she was being ripped apart. Tears carved tracks in both Ayano's and Chihiro's faces. Chihiro's eyelids were shut tight, but blood streamed out from beneath them. Cries of pain came from Chihiro as sobs of despair broke out from deep within Ayano's chest. She was completely numb; dimly, she wondered if she would stay that way forever when she heard a loud _thump!

_Freed from the genjutsu somehow, she looked to where Hedgehog lay unconscious on the ground. A young man, about the same age as Ayano, slowly rose, sweeping his black hair out of his eyes._

His eyes… The Sharingan! _Ayano thought as she let out a bloodcurdling scream and stumbled away from the other Uchiha._

_"I'm here to help," he said in a pleading, quiet but deep voice as he did something to make the manacles fall off Ayano's wrists. "We don't have much time before Madara wakes up."_

So, Madara is his name, _Ayano thought. _And this man saved me from him. But... he's an Uchiha… who's to say he's not just the same as Hedgehog…? _Ayano decided to trust him, if only until she got out of there, and then she could run as far away as possible. Ayano felt herself nodding, and his lips twitched slightly as his ruby-red eyes became onyx. He turned and started to exit the room, taking her gently by the arm, but she stopped him._

_"My sister…" she coughed out. Ayano turned back to where her twin lay, and used a water jutsu, pulling moisture from the walls and ground, to clean away the grime from Chihiro's body. When she was as clean as Ayano could get her, she lifted Chihiro off the table, with help from the black-haired man. Holding Chihiro by the shoulders, Ayano used the last of her chakra to form a preserving block of ice around her sister. _

_At last, Ayano stepped back from the block of ice, stared into Chihiro's deathly pale face, murmuring the words, "I'll be back, Chihiro, my sister, my twin."_

_As she fled the prison with the man, she asked him, "Since you rescued me and all, I think I have the right to ask your name. So…?"_

_He turned his face to Ayano, surprising her with his sharp, beautiful features, and replied, "Itachi."_

_Ayano smiled slightly for what felt like, and probably was, the first time in years and they raced off as fast as her wobbly legs could carry her._

* * *

><p>I woke from the terribly reminiscent nightmares gasping and sweating. I saw I was on a decent bed with the sheet twisted around me from all my tossing and turning. Then I sensed a presence in the room and turned as best I could to see the dim shadow sitting near my bed.<p>

The shadow leaned forward into the candlelight and I gasped as recognition and hope wormed their way through me. "Hey, Ayano," came the familiar deep but quiet voice.

Itachi.

* * *

><p><strong><strong>iLiKeChEeSeAnDcOoKiEs: :)!<strong>**

****Itachi: Wait a second... you're here too? Oh, no...****

**Author: Hey! Be nice to her! Oh, and thank you,****** iLiKeChEeSeAnDcOoKiEs****** for reccomending me to your readers. And all you ******iLiKeChEeSeAnDcOoKiEs readers, is she not the bomb? ****

**...****Anyway, thank you so much for reading my story... **

**So... Bye! I'll update soon and please review!**


	2. The Juubi Jinchuriki

**Author: Hello everyone! So this is the next chappie! :D And, like I warned, characers will be out of character... so... yeah...**

**Itachi: Wait... you mean you're actually doing _more_**** of these? Oh, gawd...**

**Author: Excuse me! You should be thanking me! You're, like, one of the main characters!**

**Itachi: Exactly...**

**Author: Aww... you're embarrassed aren't you? Anyways, here you go! Oh, and hopefully this will clarify some things... or maybe not... Either way, enjoy!**

Ch 2: The Juubi Jinchuriki~

Tears welled up inside of me, and I let them come. "Itachi, you're…you're here! But... wait… you're not—you can't be! One of the Akats—" I was cut off by a warm, smooth hand on my mouth.

"I… uh… Sorry." Itachi pulled his hand from my mouth awkwardly with a sheepish look on his face. He could see that I wanted to speak and put his finger up to silence me. "Please, Ayano, let me explain."

"Well… when you put it that way, I guess I can't kill you. Plus, I gotta give you a chance to get over your whole awkward moment there." A smile spread across my face as I waited to hear his explanation for the distinct Akatsuki cloak he was wearing.

"Uh… yeah, well, obviously, I'm one of the Akatsuki, hence the cloak. But—"His voice suddenly got much quieter and more serious. "—things are bad, really bad. Pein, the leader, is trying to capture all of the Jinchuriki, but he doesn't know what you are, at least not yet. Madara knows, I'm sure of it, or else he would have killed you too. Please, Ayano—" Footsteps could be heard echoing from a fair distance away. "—be careful."

What the fudge? Jinchukiki? As in the tailed beasts? I hardly knew anything about them except that they were sort of like chakra monsters/natural disasters sealed inside a few unlucky people. And what's with the whole 'he doesn't know what you are?' I am so confused! Grrr… He really needs to work on his explanation skills! Isn't the whole point to make me _less _confuzzled than I already am? I mean, the least he could do is apologize for abandoning me after rescuing me so he could go join his psycho Akatsuki buddies! "Ita—!"

"Hush, Ayano. Please, just hang in there, for me." Itachi sounded really worried, and this added even more confusion to my already majorly confuzzled brain. Wait a second… did he just say 'for me?" Where in the hell does he get off saying _that?_ Darn that weasel… he's trying to guilt me into doing whatever he says just cause he saved me… Like I'm gonna fall for that!

Then, the mother of all surprises. He leans down to kiss my forehead, throwing an apologetic look my way before exiting the darkly glowing room.

_ARGH! What the hell is going on?_ Honestly! He was acting so weird, and I hadn't the slightest clue what to think. My mind was on this crazy hyperdrive with a gazillion whirling questions, and how many answers? Zero. Nada. Zip.

Suddenly, I noticed the footsteps that had slowly gotten louder had stopped outside the door to my room. It slowly came open and a figure stepped in, carrying with it a light.

It was the fire-headed man with rod piercings on his face. During our fight, the Akatsuki had called him Leader-sama. The Akatsuki, the organization that Itachi was a member of, the organization that had captured me. I was so, unbelievably, hopelessly confused. And alongside my confusion was anger, a huge, boiling pot of it. Anger at Madara/Hedgehog, for killing Chihiro and part of myself with her. Anger at this man and the Akatsuki for hunting me and imprisoning me, no doubt for the same reasons Hedgehog did. Anger at Itachi even, for filling my head with questions, betrayal, and no answers whatsoever, and for joining the organization that was out to torture me. And greatest of all, my anger at Life for placing my twin and I in this world, this god-forsaken world in which my only purpose was to be used by others. I would rather be dead rather than alive at this point.

If Itachi hadn't shown up to rescue me, I would be dead.

All this went through my head and stubborn tears trickled out as the fire-headed man stared at me thoughtfully.

"Who are you?" My voice held no emotion. I was too exhausted to even think clearly. Which is probably why I didn't make the connection between Itachi's 'Pein' and the Akatsuki's 'Leader-sama.' I am _so_ smart at times like this, right?

"Different people call me by different names. But you can call me Pein." His voice and face were bored and completely devoid of any feeling. And _that's_ when I finally realized that Pein was the leader of the Akatsuki… so smart…

"Pein? Bit full of yourself aren't you?" I said this in as sarcastic a voice as I could manage. "Why are you doing this? What do you want from me? I've already gone through this process once before, in case you didn't know. And I'm tired of all you psychotic people torturing me, trying to take something I can't give you! Hedgehog tried and failed, killing my sister in the process. So I don't know what you're hoping to accomplish here." I was sick of being carted around, never getting any answers as to why all these people were coming after me.

"I see you understand a little of true pain. You have nothing else in this life to live for, except to serve the cause of peace and justice. Using you will help me to become the god of this cursed shinobi world, a world where the only way people can truly understand each other is through pain. The thing inside you… It is faint, but it is unbelievably powerful. All I need is for you to awaken the beast inside."

"I don't know what the hell you're rambling on about, but the only thing _inside_ of me is a broken soul. And you dare say I know a _little_ of what true pain is? You have no idea the hell I've been through, you bastard." The tears were coming steadily now. I've always cried easily: because of sadness, loss, anger, inner pain, physical pain. I used to be ashamed of it, but after Chihiro's death, I swore to accept who I was—every aspect except for one. My dragon. I could not ignore the Rykugan or its powers—trust me if I could, I would. One thing I could do was give up my dragon, no matter how stupid or pointless it was, it was my punishment for allowing Chihiro to die. They hadn't helped us win anyways, only almost gotten themselves killed.

"Oh, I do know. We share many more things than you are willing to accept. For now, though, you must sleep. I need you rested if you are to be of any use in my plans." With that, he left the room, leaving me even more angry, confused, and hopeless than before.

After a few minutes or so, I found that I was able to get up and move around. I stretched and found a glass of water next to my bed._ How nice of them._ I drank it grudgingly to soothe my parched throat. As I walked around, I examined my cell. It was solid rock, and the door was impossible to open because of some powerful sealing jutsu. It was then that I discovered I was unable to perform any jutsu, or use any chakra at all; they must have drugged me with something akin to what they gave Chihiro and me when we were Hedgehog's prisoners.

Then, I heard a quiet knock on the door. A moment later, in came Itachi, followed by a blond man with long bangs and a blue-haired woman with a flower in her hair. Both wore the Akatsuki cloak. Immediately, I tensed, ever so slightly relaxing as Itachi gave me a reassuring look.

"Ayano, this is Deidara," he said, gesturing to the blond man, who grinned slightly, "and Konan." Konan stepped forward with delicate, graceful steps, her amber eyes burning into me.

"Ayano," she said. "I won't pretend to know precisely what you're going through, but I assure you, I do have some idea. We are here to explain everything that's going on." As Konan spoke, her bright eyes tightened with sadness. I wondered what happened to her, and I didn't doubt for a second that she knew pain that could rival mine.

"That's right," said the blue-eyed Deidara. "I know what it's like to be captured." With this, he glanced at Itachi, who stiffened uncomfortably. "But we need you to overthrow Pein and Madara, un." With a grin, he added, "You're our special weapon, yeah."

"Overthrow Pein?" If possible, which I didn't think it actually was, I was even more confused. I felt like I was about to burst. The pounding headache from exhaustion and achiness, further enhanced by my confuzzlement, didn't help much either. "But… you're Akatsuki, right? And Pein's your leader… so, why would you want to overthrow him? Also, what have you lot got to do with Madara? He's the one that…" *sighs* Oh, gawd… I must sound like a complete moron to these guys. I know I sounded like a complete moron to _me_… wait what? Grrr…

…Silence. They were all looking at me. "Okay, you're right. I am confused. No—I'm beyond confused. I don't think a word exists that can convey my level of confusion. And you damn well better answer _all_ of my questions. First off, what in the _hell_ are you talking about when you say 'what I am,' and when Pein said, 'the beast inside of me?' I'm human, thank you very much, and I just happen to have the extremely rare Rykugan. Really. Bite me."

They all had different expressions on their faces. Konan looked amused and slightly surprised. Deidara looked impressed and like might start laughing. But apparently, I had never been well enough to make sarcastic comments to Itachi, because he looked stunned. Well, somewhat. At the very least, he was as stunned as I've ever seen him. "Well, ah, let's see here…" With a warning glare from me, he hurried to speak. "Don't worry, we'll answer all your questions. As if I had a choice. But it's just hard to explain it without explaining the history first."

I glanced at Itachi suspiciously, and then sighed. "Fine." I sat back on my bed, looking at Itachi expectantly.

"Well, I'm pretty sure you know this already, but there are nine tailed beasts in existence. They are all contained inside Jinchuriki so the Kage who has power over them can keep the beast under control. But what is not common knowledge is that when the Sage of Six Paths divided the Juubi into the nine tailed beasts, he made one more beast, a second Juubi, which was much more powerful than the others, and also the key to reuniting the tailed beasts into the ultimate Juubi. The Juubi Jinchuriki has not existed for over 500 years, and was thought to be lost. This is because only twins of the Rykugan can be the ten tails Jinchuriki."

Wide-eyed and with my mouth hanging open, I stared in shock. "You mean, Chihiro and I…we are...were the Juubi."

Konan spoke up. "Exactly. And you still are. But when Chihiro was killed, she transferred her portion of the Juubi powers to you. Now you, Ayano, are twice as powerful as a normal Juubi Jinchuriki, which is still much more powerful than the other tailed beasts. That's why Pein and Madara want you so—"

The door slammed open. A tall man with an orange mask and Akatsuki cloak skipped in, followed by Pein.

"Hello!" said the masked man in cheery voice. There was an eerie familiarity to the sound, but I couldn't pin it down. Pein glared at Itachi, Konan, and Deidara with his Rinnegan, and they bowed their heads and stepped back, Itachi looking at me worriedly.

"I would ask exactly what your purpose in here is, but now is not the time. Our business is with her." He pointed at me with a bored expression on his face.

I stood up in surprise when, suddenly, a black blur whooshed in front of me. A terrifyingly familiar voice spoke out from behind the mask. "Ayano, my precious little Juubi child. How nice to see you after all this time. Don't you miss me?" He then turned to Itachi, who was squashed against the wall along with Konan and Deidara. "Itachi, friend, I haven't seen you so long. Hmm… the last time was… let's see, I can't remember exactly, but I don't think it was a very pleasant encounter, was it? Hahaha…"

Rage and loss surged through me. I couldn't believe that psychotic Hedgehog had the nerve to show up here after what he did to me.

"Shut the hell up! What do you want, Hedgehog? I'm done with your sick, twisted torture games! Really, I _never_ want to meet the people who raised you! Or what, did you kill them too? I wo—" I was so _angry_ at him, for all that he'd done, and my anger was fighting its way out.

"ENOUGH!" he exploded back at me. This was definitely not the cheery, boyish man from before. This was Madara Uchiha, and an extremely pissed off Madara Uchiha at that. Then Hedgehog suddenly grabbed the front of my shirt with one hand and hauled me up against the nearest wall. With his other hand he pinned my hands above my head. His hand then slipped from the front of my shirt to my neck and I choked as my air supply closed off. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the other three: Konan looked really worried, Deidara like he didn't know what to do, and Itachi like he was having some major difficulties keeping himself from lunging at the other Uchiha and choking him to death.

Hedgehog readjusted his grip so I could breathe, but only slightly. "I've had enough of your mouthing off, my little Juubi girl. Oh, but I'm sorry. You're not a little girl anymore, now are you?" He stepped back slightly and released my hands for a moment to pull off his mask.

I gasped—Hedgehog was… not a hedgehog anymore. He had cut of his huge mass of Hedgehog mane. Also, one side of his face was covered with bandages. On the un-bandaged side, his red sharingan eye shone in the dim light. One thing was certain: this _was_ Madara Uchiha, the man who had tortured my twin and I, and killed Chihiro. By the time I had gotten over the shock of seeing the man that had haunted my dreams for over five years, he had pinned my hands above my head again. Then, his ruby gaze travelled lazily up and down my body.

"Get your hands off me you disgusting, perverted freak!" This made him grin, which only served to infuriate me more, resulting in me screaming and kicking out at the creepy Hedgehog.

"Haha… Yes, you've grown into quite a fine woman, if I do say so myself." Hedgehog still had that smug, perverted smile on his face.

Just as I was preparing another screaming and kicking fit—I was still unable to use any jutsu or chakra—Pein stepped forward. "Madara," he said in a commanding tone, "control yourself. We've wasted enough time already. It's time to begin extracting the Juubi."

Madara hesitated, a strained look on his face. Then, a mucho creepy smirk spread across his face. "Yes… let us begin the extraction of the Juubi. I can't wait to hear your screams, _Ayano._"

Yeah, cause everyone though that my capture would be all happy and painless and torture-free… yeah right.

Well, crap. I am _so_ screwed.

* * *

><p><strong>Author: *gasps* O_O OMG! Madara's so CREEPY! And perverted! And all-around disgusting! I didn't know hedgehogs even <em>could <em>be perverted... Ugh… He's one of the few characters I do not want to come to life… **

**Madara: Hey, why do you have to go and make _me _****out as the bad, creepy, disgusting, and perverted guy? Huh?**

**Author: ummm... I don't know... Because you are?**

**Madara: grrrrrr...**

**Author: See what I mean? Oh no... He's mad... Itachi help!**

**Itachi: *looks down at Author* Hn. That's what you get for putting me in this story and making me look like a big softie.**

**Author: Ah! Runnies! Anyway, please review and all that. Bye-bye for now, my faithful readers! **


	3. Despair and Hope

**Author: *crawls out of bear cave and looks like…* *sniffle sniffle* I'M SO SORRY!**

…

…

**Author: ****please ****don't kill me…?**

**No excuses… I know… I was going to say we had exams, but that was over a couple weeks ago and I kept thinking I need to update, I need to update, but I… Didn't… Oh crap… I'm a terrible person…**

**Read… if there's anyone even there, please JUST READ AND FORGIVE! I do not deserve you if you are reading this now, which you most obviously are, so… I'm just gonna shut up and stop rambling and let you read, okay? :*(… Thankies!**

* * *

><p><span>Ch 3: Despair and Hope<span>

Pain.

One small word, just a few meaningless letters strung together and carried by a single breath. How is it, then, that such a seemingly insignificant word can encompass so much and have such drastic effects on all of mankind? At this moment, I was experiencing a thousand different types of pain. The force of it had rendered me unconscious and shut me into a tiny corner of my brain, shriveled up in agony.

And the worst part? I was still alive.

The only questions left were the most important ones, the ones whose answers I desperately sought. How long was this going to last? When would I breathe my last breath? How long until my heart gave out, taking that one last, long, stuttering beat before lapsing into silence?

How far away was the moment when I received the sweet release of death?

* * *

><p>"Dammit, Hedgehog! Let me go!" My voice was muffled by his hand over my mouth as I attempted to break free. He had a death grip on my wrists, so tight they were becoming numb, with his other hand still stubbornly plastered across my mouth as he pushed me forward. I bit down on his gloved hand hard in a desperate attempt to escape, and I tasted the bitter, salty blood in my mouth as well as his rotten, moldy, and disgusting glove.<p>

Madara jerked his hand away and used the other to backhand me across the face so hard I spun around from the force and smacked my forehead against the damp wall. The minimal vision I had in the dark corridor blackened, brightened a little, and then faded back to black. I slumped against the wall and felt warm, sticky liquid dripping into my cursed eyes and down my face. "You little… Pein!" he growled. "_Do_ something about that damned little _creature._"

Said psychotic piercing man turned around with his characteristic bored expression and took three steady, silent steps toward me as Madara stepped back, grinning. Pein stopped and held one arm out to the side. The other arm reached inside his outstretched sleeve and pulled out three long, metallic rods. The Rykugan, like all the great dōjutsus, allowed me to see the flow of chakra. Those three metal rods were completely flooded with chakra that pulsated in a peculiar fashion, as if the chakra was moving like a wave. My eyebrows drew together in confusion as I tried to fight my way to the surface, lost in the thick haze that clouded my mind. I had still not recovered from my hit to the wall; my head was throbbing painfully and I had most likely suffered a concussion.

Pein drew another three of the pulsating chakra rods from his other sleeve. I noticed that they looked like the piercings in his face, and they also radiated the same chakra waves. If they were the same rods that were in his hands, could it be that he had those rod piercings embedded in his entire body? I shuddered as he took one more step towards me. "Maybe this will teach you a lesson, Juubi." He grinned sardonically and shoved two of the rods into my shoulder, two in my thighs, and two more in my gut. I realized that he had specifically chosen the most painful, non-fatal spots on the body.

"Ah! Oh, God…Ugh…You…Bas…" I curled forward ever so slightly so I didn't disturb the rods any more as a wave of pure agony tore through me. Every pain receptor in my body was screaming at me simultaneously, and I screamed back. I screamed again and again until the pain subsided a tiny bit and my voice was too hoarse to scream anymore. Tears and blood mixed as I swore under my breath. Somewhere in my state of agony, the rods were ripped violently from my body. I collapsed then, not wanting to do so before when I would have only succeeded in driving the rods further into me.

A hand hauled me up to my feet by the back of my tattered shirt and shoved me forward. "Move." Pein brandished the rods to get the message across and I stumbled along, clinging to the wall. I was too weak to resist, and I thought, _they're going to break me, just like Chihiro, and I can't even lift a finger._ This was so pathetic! How had I let myself become so weak, so compliant, that I didn't even put up the smallest fight? As much as I strained my willpower, however, I couldn't. They must have placed some long-lasting drug or seal on me so I couldn't perform any jutsus, but nonetheless, I should at least be able to do _something!_

_Ugh… _I was just about to start another self-deprecating internal yelling session when I tripped over the mysterious invisible rock that moved in front of me (a.k.a my own two feet). I gritted my teeth and tried to right myself before I got stabbed again when I fell forward yet again…only to be caught by a slight but strong body. Familiar amber eyes looked at me from behind blue hair, and I whispered, "Konan."

"All you have to do is live. We'll take care of the rest. I know you can survive—you've done it for years now, right?" I could barely hear her, and I had outstanding hearing, so I doubted Pein with all his powers would be unable to listen in on our conversation. Konan lifted my arm across her shoulder and propped me up with her arm around my back. I could sense a minute change in Pein's chakra—he was suspicious of Konan's sudden aid—but it disappeared as quickly as it arose. Either Pein was overly trusting or Konan was an excellent liar and deceiver. I, for one, found the latter to be far more believable; I highly doubted Pein would give his trust to just anyone.

The bleeding had slowed, but my head was still foggy from blood loss. One might even think they did all these things to me so they could keep me in my befuddled state of mind! But no, why would they want to do that, hmm? As my wounds began to cease bleeding, I could feel them closing up and healing themselves. The regeneration skills my Rykugan gave me were needless to say useful in times of need, but it consumed a massive amount of chakra and was sort of on auto-pilot. Running on empty as I was, the chakra loss was too much, and soon enough, I was practically being carried by Konan. She didn't seem to mind, though, and if—_when_—we got out of this hellhole, I was going to be her eternal servant.

My dreams for a lovely future of joyous servitude under Konan were cut short when said blue-haired angel stopped in front of two huge doors. They were very intimidating and made of stone, giving off the appearance that they were part of the surrounding walls. Konan stepped to the side as Pein walked forward and performed a series of rapid hand signs. The door slid back into the wall soundlessly, and he stepped in, followed by Madara, Konan, and me.

Light exploded from newly lit lanterns all around the vast cave. It was sphere-shaped and dominated by a huge stone statue. Two hands stretched out from it, ten fingers splayed outwards. Above the hands, there was a face, covered with closed eyes of varying sizes.

Two voices spoke out in sync. "The Gedo Mazo statue." Madara spoke with a mixture of greed and awe, while Konan spoke with fear and disbelief.

And Pein stood before all three of us, arms outstretched. "It has begun."

* * *

><p>Through the agony, I could barely sense a strong, bright presence.<p>

'_Ayano, child of the Rykugan. It has been a very long time since I was last awaken from my slumber.'_

"Who are you? What do you want? What is happening to me?" The brightness had chased away some of the pain, and I was finally able to think.

'_So many questions and all of them deserve answers. I am known as the Juubi, the second ten tails. I was there at the beginning when the Sage of Six Paths used his Rinnegan to seal the body of the original Juubi into the moon and become the first Jinchuriki. I was there when he separated the original Juubi inside of him into the ten tailed beasts. He sealed me, the strongest of the ten beasts into two young twins. They were powerless, with no control whatsoever over their chakra. However, when he separated and sealed me into the twins, I gave them the power and control they lacked, and I changed their eyes into the very Rykugan you and your twin possess. It was uncomprehendingly rare for twins to be born with the Rykugan; in fact, you and your sister were the only others to ever bear those eyes. _

'_I will not pretend to know why you are here, now, but I do know this: the Sage's descendent seeks to combine the very beasts his ancestor separated back into the original Juubi. Right now, he is attempting to extract the Juubi, namely myself, from you so he can use my power to resurrect the Juubi. Without us, without all ten of the tailed beasts, he cannot complete his goal. Currently, the nine other Jinchurikis are divided among the individual ninja countries, and this creates a balance. The five nations are content knowing that they each have equal power in possessing the Jinchurikis. But if one country loses their Jinchuriki and upsets that balance, the world will erupt into a war between the tailed beasts, which would result in untold destruction. In my slumber, I have come to the conclusion that this must not be allowed to happen; the world must not enter this disastrous war. Now, I must go, child. I will break you free of this jutsu, but you must find your own way after that. If you have need enough, I have no doubt you will be able to find me.'_

_What…? _So much…too much information…_way_ too much information. Before I could even begin to soak up all that the Juubi had just told me, a shockwave reverberated through my body and mind, and before I knew it, I was back in control of my own body. I looked around only to find myself in midair, but only for a moment before I started falling. When my body made contact with the ground, over thirty feet below, I heard a sickening crunch as more than a dozen bones broke. However, I was so glad to be free of that mind-tearing and soul-ripping jutsu that I started crying in relief.

"What is the meaning of this?" I dimly recognized the voice as Pein's. A hand latched onto my hair and hauled me up. "What did you do? How did you break out of the jutsu?"

"I…uh…" Well, first, the Juubi appeared inside my head, gave me a breakdown of the history surrounding the Juubi, then _poof!_ I'm freefalling through the air and landing, broken like a ragdoll, on the ground below me. But before I could formulate a coherent and somewhat reasonable response, Pein suddenly yelled. I gave a start and looked to where Pein was…not. Or rather, he was there, just hidden inside a dome of boiling, raging black flames. The dome suddenly exploded outward, and I shrieked and scrambled back as well as I could, straight into a pair of legs. My body protested the sudden movement that jostled all my broken bones, and someone carefully picked me up.

"Sorry, un. We've gotta get going, yeah." Blond hair…blue eyes…odd accent…it was Deidara! But just as we were turning around, I heard a loud crash and someone started yelling.

"Dammit, you f****** motha f******, get the f*** back here!" (Author: we all know who that is, don't we? :P) A white haired man was running towards us, waving a huge red scythe around in his hands. "What the f*** do you think you're doing, Deidara? You b****** are gonna regret this!" Before he could say anymore, Konan ran in front of Deidara and me, palms outstretched. Thousands of little pieces of paper flew out from her hands, flying towards the white-haired scythe man. The pieces of paper completely covered him, wrapping him up like a mummy. She turned back to us for a moment, waving her hands frantically. "Ayano, Deidara, run!" As she spun around to face the man, Deidara turned once more and started running as fast as he could toward the exit, still over 100 yards away.

After a couple steps, though, our path was blocked by two Akatsuki: one of them was a huge man with some kind of plant on his head who was battling another huge man that looked like a fish with his blue skin and gills. Kunai flashed in a flurry and water jutsus blasted occasionally. I continued to watch the fight as Deidara looked around anxiously for another exit. The fish-man took several deep cuts from kunai, and blood spurted from the wounds. His opponent was about to deal the finishing blow when dozens of puppets swarmed around the plant man, driving him back. Fish-man grimaced as a red-haired Akatsuki ran over to him and motioned us forward.

I looked around the cavern, which was in a state of complete chaos. I saw Itachi focused intently one the mass of black flames in front of him, which I assumed were his doing. The dome was still expanding every few seconds, but Itachi managed to contain them. I could see it was costing him though; he was sweating profusely and bleeding from his one open eye, which I recognized as the Mangekyo.

On one end of the cavern, the plant-man was still being attacked by the swarm of puppets, but he was putting up a vicious fight, as one would expect from a member of the Akatsuki. On the other end, Konan was working hard to keep her paper-mummy in place. Then, the entire chaotic scene disappeared. I could still hear the sounds of fighting, and Deidara was still moving quickly away from the cave, but we were in pitch black darkness except for the occasional dim lantern.

After a few minutes of Deidara's steady breathing, I heard another set of running footsteps and tensed.

Deidara, however, remained relaxed. "Kisame, un, what's going on back there?"

"I think they've got it pretty much under control, surprisingly. At the very least, Pein, Hidan, and Zetsu won't be getting out of there easily. When I left, they looked like they were done for, so Konan, Itachi, and Sasori should be joining us soon." As we passed by a lantern, I saw that this Kisame was the fish-man from earlier. He looked and sounded like he was in a lot of pain, but he easily kept pace with Deidara.

Now that I had time to actually think past all the adrenaline, _what the hell was happening?_ First off, I was being tortured inside my own head with this legendary Juubi speaking to me, then the next thing I know, all the Akatsuki were fighting against each other, and Deidara was running as fast as he could with me in his arms. "Hey… would you mind telling me what's going—"

Deidara cut me off. "Ayano, I know it's confusing, un. To put it simply, we've waited a long time for this opportunity, for you to show up, yeah. You see, ever since we were recruited into the Akatsuki and found out that Pein planned to conquer the entire world with the Juubi, we knew we had to do something. So Itachi, Konan, Sasori, who was the red-head we saw earlier, and good old Kisame here decided to wait for a chance to strike at Pein and those loyal to him in the Akatsuki. So when Itachi found you, un, we knew that we could have that chance when you were captured and brought here. The only problem is that we don't know where Madara, who seems to be controlling everything behind the scenes, is, or what he's up to. By all means, he should be fighting, but we're pretty lucky he's not, or else we would probably lose, yeah."

He waited as I slowly digested this information. It was pretty amazing that they'd managed to stay hidden for so long_. I guess they aren't so bad after all, at least not all of them._ The whole story of the Sage, Juubi, and Jinchurikis had finally sunk in at some point, and I didn't know whether I was more surprised by the fact I was the Juubi Jinchuriki or the fact that the Juubi, a creature I thought was ruled by instinct, had just spoken with me. It occurred to me that I should tell them about the incident, but I didn't want to have to explain it twice, so I waited.

My thoughts were interrupted when Deidara came to an abrupt halt. "Shouldn't they be here by now?"

Kisame sounded worried as he replied, "I don't know, it's odd. Maybe they're waiting outside?"

Kisame opened a door in front of us and I was greeted by blinding rays of pure sunlight. "Kisame, Deidara, Ayano! Thank God, you're here!" I squinted through the brightness and was greeted by the sight of an ecstatic Konan. She rushed forward and took me from Deidara's arms, walking over to place me carefully on a soft bed of grass. Itachi walked over, looking exhausted but smiling nonetheless, as the red-haired Sasori stood back with an expressionless face.

I sighed and laid back. Even if I didn't do any fighting, I had gone through hell the past few days. No, I had gone through hell for the past five years! I was safe, at least for the moment, with five very powerful ninja to help me stop Pein, Madara, the white-haired ninja, and the plant man. Sure I was probably going to be eternally confused, but I'm guessing since they were letting me lay down, I had a little time to sort everything out before we were on our way. Hey, it wasn't going to be easy, but at least I wasn't dying…at the moment…I hope…

* * *

><p><strong>Author: Um, hi? So, again, I'M SO SORRY! DID YOU READ? (well <strong>_**that's **_**an obvious question) AND FORGIVE? Even if you didn't forgive, I hope you enjoyed it… and don't be too mad, please?**

**Oh, by the way, here's a little timeline for the story just in case you were confused, because I admit, I sort of confused myself… hehe…**

**-Five years ago: Mother, Mitsuko, is killed and the twins are captured and brought to Madara's lair. **

**-Two years ago: Chihiro dies and Ayano escapes with Itachi. After a while, she goes off on her own and wanders around for two years, hiding and training and all that good stuff. **

**-Present: she's about eighteen years old (same as Itachi in this story) and the Akatsuki capture her…blah, blah, blah. **

**Kay, hope that helped! Anyway, until next time, and I'll try to post sooner in the future! Thankies and bye-byes! **


	4. Seperating Dreams from Reality

**A/N: So… yeah. I know, I know, I'm just plain suckish at updating. It's a fact of life. Yes, I was berating myself the entire time I **_**didn't**_** update and telling myself that I **_**should**_** update... *sigh* Whatever, I just hope that if you like the story, you'll wait for the update, and read it when it comes. Okay? Not okay? Okay. **

**Oh, by the way, I know some people have been confused by the two Juubis, you know, and I totally get that. So… I'm just gonna say dragon Juubi instead of just Juubi, because being the dragon Juubi Jinchuriki lets Ayano summon a dragon… I think I put that in the first chapter, right? Oh well. So it's just dragon Juubi until I come up with a good enough name. And anyone who has a good idea for the name, say it!**

**Anyways, back to ze story! Read and review! Because **_**I**_** will get that warm, fuzzy feeling, and **_**you**_** will get delicious cookies! *holds out cookies***

* * *

><p><span>Ch. 4: Separating Dreams from Reality<span>

A lone man walked through the still sleeping forest. Normally, the area would be bursting with life, but the ancient trees that loomed ominously all around him prevented any light from reaching the ground with their dense canopies. Slowly, the shining rays of sunlight broke through he leaves and gave some brightness, if only a little, to the gloomy forest. The man had a black mask covering the bottom half of his deeply tanned face, over which emerald eyes, with red in place of the whites, glinted in the faint light. The rest of his face and head were obscured by a white hood. He also wore a forehead protector, the insignia of Takigakure engraved on it with a strike through the middle. Covering the rest of his body was a black cloak with red clouds, identifying him as a member of the feared yet mysterious group known as the Akatsuki.

He wandered on silently down the long-forgotten path until he came upon a small break in the trees, showered by sunlight. Far above the tops of the trees a huge, foreboding cliff face was visible, still shrouded in shadow since the sun had just begun its ascent over the tall peak. He looked up towards the cliff for a brief moment before turning his head back to the forest before him. He lifted his head slightly, seemingly sniffing at the air when in reality he was locating the chakra he had been following and said in a deep, gravelly voice, "Almost there."

With that, he walked forward again, immediately becoming engulfed by the forest. However, the man didn't get far before he stopped suddenly before an enormous tree. Its circumference was probably several meters, the thick roots could be seen extending far out into the surrounding forest, and the trunk reached so high, one might think it was a pathway to heaven, if such a thing existed.

Resting between two massive roots was a young, teenage girl, sleeping with her head leaning against the trunk. Her slender face was extremely pale, almost translucent, and in the dim light, it almost looked as if she was a ghost. Her long, straight black hair fell in every which way about her face, the stark contrast further enhancing her ghostly appearance. Staring at her emotionlessly, the mysterious Akatsuki member crouched down beside the young woman and rolled up his sleeves.

With that simple action, any pretense of a normal human being was shattered and replaced by a monster as a mass of thin, snake-like tendrils squirmed and slithered their way out of the seams in his arms. More of the tendrils came out of his skin and reached out towards the sleeping girl. They came to her face and stopped, hovering in midair before moving slightly to shift the dark locks out of her face. Once that was done, they reached out again, this time to her eyes, and pried the tender lids apart.

"So this is the remaining dragon Juubi that's been causing all the fuss? What a waste—such a weakling isn't worth the time or the money." His emerald-and-ruby eyes met the girl's sleeping ones. They were unlike anything he, or anyone else, had ever seen. The deep blue irises had two or three wavy black circles that radiated out from the pupil, the lines swirling around and around… it was both a mesmerizing and deeply disturbing experience looking into those supposedly "lost" eyes.

Apparently dissatisfied with what he saw in the dragon Juubi Jinchuriki's eyes, he rose with an exasperated and tired sigh and began walking away into the trees, his many tendrils whipping around to follow him, re-disheveling the girl's hair in the process.

He sighed again before saying, "I guess I'll have to deal with her if it means I get paid… This better be worth—" His words faded into silence along with the sound of his footsteps as the man was swallowed up by the dense trees.

* * *

><p><em>Chihiro…<em>I sat up groggily, the last image from my dream still clinging to my mind. It was Chihiro as I last saw her, still somewhat bloody eyes closed with visible tracks running down her face where both tears and blood had travelled. Her serene face was misleading; serenity was the exact opposite of what she must have been feeling at that moment. Or maybe, she _was_ a tiny bit happy and peaceful; knowing Chihiro, she would be glad that I got out alive, even if she didn't. She was always so kindhearted and selfless… It still hurt to think of her even now.

As I opened my eyes, I thought back to before the dream of Chihiro. There had been another one…someone talking…and then silence… But who was it? "Damn… I can't remember…" Usually I didn't even dream, let alone remember whatever I'd seen or heard. The only thing close to a dream was the same recurring image of Chihiro in that ice block that I'd seen every night since she'd died.

I shook my head to rid it of all the brooding thoughts and memories and focused on finding out _where the hell I was_. I wasn't at home, which was now destroyed, I wasn't in any of the various rooms I'd stayed at while on the run, and I certainly wasn't in a prison cell. Standing up stiffly, I rubbed my neck, shoulders, and back. That done, I swiftly swung my head from right to left, trying to find something, anything familiar when…

"Oh." The memories returned in a flood: the chaotic battle, the mad dash for the exit, emerging outside a whole in the huge cliff and being greeted by a huge forest, rendezvousing with Itachi, Konan, Kisame, and Sasori. Overriding all those memories, however, was the overwhelming feeling of _freedom,_ and all that came with it. Peace, relief, ecstasy…Sure, it was childish to rejoice so soon; pursuit was imminent from the rest of the Akatsuki after all. But in that moment, it didn't matter. I let five years' worth of sadness, anger, despair, and hopelessness flow off my shoulders and let my current emotions take their place.

At some point during my mass exchange of emotions that might be referred to by some as "manic-depressive disorder," it occurred to me that I was _not_ in the same place where I had initially fallen asleep. Hopefully someone had taken me to a safer location… It probably wasn't a very good idea to camp out right outside the Akatsuki hideous, now was it?

Deciding to stick with that theory, I contemplated testing out my newly regained powers. Using my Rykugan, I could see the smallest smudge of chakra in the distance, probably a good mile or so out. _Argh… That hurts…well, more like tickles…_ I had gone so long without using my powers that trying to see that far was nearly impossible—it probably wasn't even close to a mile, more like half of one or less. While I was off running around for two years, I had trained quite a bit to stay sharp in case the inevitable happened and my pursuers caught up with me. Back then, when I was in top shape, I could see the smallest trace of a person's chakra from about a mile and a half away when I tried. Now, though, my eyes got all prickly and I squeezed them shut. _Kami…all I did was look less than a mile or so out and look what happens! I need to get back in shape…might as well take advantage of my situation and train with five S-class ninja, neh? Speaking of which, where _were_ my newfound Akatsuki buddies?_

Now that the prickly sensation in my eyes had all but vanished, I tried to find that smidgen of chakra I had seen before and just about did a double take. Much to my surprise, that "smidgen" was now two distinctly human shapes that had covered over three quarters of the distance between us, and were fast approaching. "Crap!" I started panicking, and by way of my supreme genius strategizing brain, I decided to climb up the tree I had been sleeping on, and hide there. Great idea, right? It's not like any Akatsuki member, which the figures probably were, can sniff out the tiniest bit of chakra from ten miles away… Okay, sarcasm should be noted in this situation, even if there was a slight exaggeration.

Slowing my breathing and concealing my chakra as much as possible, I hunkered down on a fairly high tree branch, my gaze riveted on the advancing figures. In less than five minutes, they were directly below me, concealed by the body of the tree I was on. The proceeded forward with agonizing slowness until, finally, they revealed themselves and looked right up to where she was sitting.

"Oh my…Thank—Noooooo!" My half formed sentences were cut off as I, ever so gracefully, fell off my branch and began the swift but painful journey down through a multitude of vines, leaves, and, by far the most painful, thick, _solid_, branches.

"Ow, oh, eh, ACK, oof, ah ah ah, OW!" For every ten gentle little leaves there was one huge branch that I cracked just about every part of my body on. Not so good for the already severely injured girl. My fall continued on in this was until I landed heavily into a pair of arms as the body that caught me let out a grunt. Once I had gotten over the shock of _not_ hitting the very _hard_ looking ground like I had expected, I looked up and just about jumped out of my skin.

"FISH!"

…

"Oh, wait, you're Kisame, aren't you? Huh. Ah, yeah, sorry about that. Eh heh. Ha ha ha. Ha?" The fish man in question looked none too pleased at my accidental mix-up. In fact, he looked downright pissed. Well, I guess no one really liked to be mistaken for a face, but I mean come on! Who could have looked at the blue skin, gills, and fish-eyes, and not thought, _MAN-FISH!_

He threw me to the ground, very unkindly I might add, and said, "Who the hell are you again? _You_ look like a little human shaped tree!" He pointed his bandage-wrapped sword at my neck as I was writhing in pain at the old, newly-opened wounds and the freshly acquired ones.

"Get your poor injured little—er, ah, _big_—sword away from me!" I brushed some of the leaves out of my face and hair, mentally grimacing at what I probably looked like. "In case you hadn't noticed or remembered, my name is _Ayano Kiyomizu,_ and I just so happen to be the girl you and your little posse rescued from those Akatsuki maniacs!" With a glare at my last statement, I amended, "You know, the _bad_ Akatsuki maniacs that we were running away from." Outburst finished, I continued to pull leaves out of my hair while I waited for him to digest the information that I had just given him.

"Oh," was the oh-so-intelligent remark that came from his mouth. I looked up at him with one of my eyebrows raised, giving him the classic, '_Really? That's _all_ you can come up with?' _look. Up until then, I hadn't really paid any attention to the second chakra form that had been with him when I was watching them approach.

"So I take it you got some sleep, Ayano?" I looked with surprise to the man who spoke and saw that it was Itachi. "Are you okay?"

"Um, yeah?" Slightly confused, I looked at him askance once I was done being surprised at his presence.

"Good. We came as soon as we could because we sensed—" He stopped suddenly to look at Kisame, who decided to pick up where Itachi had left off.

"Someone walking around where you were sleeping. Someone powerful, like say, a member of the other Akatsuki members." He looked meaningfully at first Itachi then me, almost glaring at me.

I shrugged and was about to speak again, but I hesitated. _The dream…I _know_ that was someone there in my dream. But that's the problem… It was a dream. Wasn't it?_ "I uh… It's nothing."

Itachi narrowed his eyes and took a step closer at me. "What is it? If you remember anything… You need to tell us."

"It's really nothing." With a glare from Itachi, I hurried to speak again. "I mean, I had a dream, and there was someone, a man, I think, and he was talking… But it's only a dream, right? Right?" I didn't mention that I had never had a true dream before, as dreams were generally figments of the imagination. The only dreams were real memories… But that didn't necessarily mean…

"_So this is the remaining dragon Juubi that's been causing all the fuss." The man had ruby and emerald eyes, a mask covering most of his face, and a forehead protector, what village's symbol I couldn't tell. Deep tan skin, and then…The tendrils, almost like eyeless snakes…_

"Ah! In my dream…his eyes were red and green, green irises, there was a mask, forehead protector, and…" I shuddered at the thought of those tentacles touching my face. "Those tentacle things…nasty, disgusting things." Both Itachi and Kisame were looking at me wide-eyed, but I hurriedly dismissed them. "No. It was just a dream. Just a dream. There's no way that I could remember something that actually happened while I was asleep! No way. Just a dream. That's all it was. I must just have some hyperactive imagination or something." I returned their looks of surprise with one of determination. They slowly eased up, but I could tell they weren't fully convinced.

"Okay," Itachi said. "Now that everything's okay, we'll bring you back to the others. We've been scouting out the surrounding forest in pairs, and there's no way someone could have gotten through us. You're probably right; it was just some weird accident." He nodded to Kisame, who quickly picked me up and slung me over his shoulder."

"What? Hey! I can move just fine as I am," I exclaimed, knowing that I most definitely _could not_.

Kisame shifted me so that I was facing forward and looked at me from the side, saying in a disbelieving voice, "Right. So, in your current condition, you could travel at the same speed as me 'n Itachi here, for anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour, and keep up with that pace the _entire_ time? Well, if you insist," he spread his hands out "go right ahead."

I gulped and shook my head slightly, and he chuckled silently, shaking me with the motion. I looked over at Itachi and saw that he, too, had a slight smirk on his. _ You little… Grr… _ I gave them both death glares that would send any normal man cowering on the ground, but not two Akatsuki members. _Damn…_ I sulked in silence the entire time, my body bouncing up and down with Kisame's movements.

* * *

><p>After a while we finally caught up with Sasori, Deidara, and Konan. Konan and Deidara tried to hide their surprise at my appearance, but failed miserably. Sasori remained expressionless as I stewed with frustration. "Okay, you two can just shut up now." Deidara and Konan stopped snickering at my voice. "It's not <em>my <em>fault that I fell thirty feet through an ancient tree who's branches are _way_ too freakin' big and hard for its own good! Not to mention that this all happened _after_ I got stabbed with _six_ little metal rod thingies!" Apparently, my anger was just too funny, and they started laughing outright.

Kisame didn't help at all by saying, "Actually, it _was _your fault for standing in a precarious position on top of a precariously thin branch that was not big enough to hold you." He started laughing too, and shook me off his shoulder in the process. Whatever I was going to do next was interrupted, however, when Itachi shushed everyone and got their attention.

"Who's there?" He called out into the forest. Everyone was alert now and staring hard in the direction Itachi was facing. When no one answered, he was about to call out again, but then a figure stepped out of the shadow of a nearby tree into the now bright forest floor. My eyes widened and I nearly gasped out loud. _It's him! Ruby-and-emerald eyes, mask, tan skin… It all matches… But that's impossible! I couldn't have had a dream about him… No…_ I squashed down any confusion and doubts on the matter. No. It was a dream. It didn't matter how weird or impossible, it had to be a coincidence.

The only problem? I did _not,_ in _any_ situation, believe in coincidences. Damn…this was quite the predicament, wasn't it? I resolved to ignore the instinct screaming at me to _RUN_, and tell Itachi about my little epiphany later.

The man with the mask looked up at Itachi with a slightly annoyed expression on his face. "Who do you think? It's Kakuzu; I figured you guys could use some help."

My Akatsuki buddies did not appear convinced by this "Kakuzu's" declaration. Neither did I, mainly because if that wasn't a dream, it _must_ be a reality, and call me crazy, but I didn't really trust anyone who stalked me while I was sleeping, _especially_ one with tentacles! It was Konan who voiced all of our concerns. "And why, precisely, should we be trusting you? You've always been quite obedient when Pein gave you orders. Who's to say you aren't just spying on us right now?"

At that, Kakuzu laughed. "Oh, really? And you, his right hand woman who never once disobeyed him before this, are more trustworthy than me? Why would anyone trust _you_?" Konan grimaced and glared at him, but whatever she was going to say was cut off by Deidara.

"Because she's been with us from the beginning, when we first started plotting against Pein, and was only close to him so he wouldn't suspect her, or us!"

Kakuzu shook his head with a smirk on his lips. "Okay, then, be that way. All I'm saying is that you might want another immortal on your side for when Hidan inevitably comes." With that, he walked away, disappearing into the forest, and I could see his chakra rapidly moving away after that. No one made to pursue him, though, and I looked around to see grim faces once they realized the truth of his statement.

"He's right, you know," Kisame said. "Even though we might eventually immobilize him to the point where he couldn't fight, one or all of us would probably be dead at that point. Besides, shouldn't we take any chance we get to gain the upper hand?"

Sasori, who had remained silent the whole time, said, "Yes…while they are at a disadvantage as far as numbers go, but that doesn't mean that they are lacking in skills. It would be wise to be cautious about them; besides Pein, who is obviously very powerful, there seems to be more than meets the eye as far as Tobi and Zetsu are concerned."

After that, a deep silence fell on the party. We were all extremely suspicious of Kakuzu, but no one could deny the logical sense that it would be wise to have him on their side. I sighed and looked at them all in turn, and everyone else did the same. "Um, guys?" They all looked towards me, and I continued. "Itachi and Kisame probably already realized this, but that was the guy from my dream. Except I never have dreams, I'd never seen him before, and I certainly don't have enough imagination to just dream him up, in that amount of detail. Besides, I don't believe in coincidences. So…?"

They all looked semi-shocked, excluding Kisame and Itachi, and I shrugged. "Maybe he just wanted to do a little investigating, or he was on his way to meet up with you guys or something. I dunno," I finished with an exasperated huff.

Itachi looked up at the little sky visible through the tops of the trees. "Well, it doesn't really matter anymore. He's already gone, and we have to move. Since we're trying to prevent the capture of the tailed beasts, we should probably head over to the first one, since Pein's planning on going in order, right?" With a nod from Konan, he continued. "So, we'll head to Sunagakure and find the one-tailed Shukaku. Besides, I'm sure that we'll see Kakuzu soon; he knows that we can't deny the fact that we need him." We all nodded and I was once again slung up on top of the giant fish-man's shoulder.

Who doesn't love travel by fish back, after all?

* * *

><p><strong>Well that was a whole lot of NOTHIN'! Okay, well I'm thinking there's gonna be some drama next chapter! Maybe some action, some revelations… Hmm… I'm getting all excited just thinking about it! And… wait… Grrr! There was something important that I was going to say!<strong>

**Oh! I don't own Naruto. Honestly, that should be obvious, but _apparantly,_ it's required. *sigh* Whatever.**

**Also…This takes place right before Shippuden, I think. Yeah, because that's when they first try capturing Gaara… Spoilers!**

**So, read and review! I've got some delicious, hot-out-of-the-oven cookies just waiting, **_**begging**_** for you to eat them! So don't let the cookies down, and review! They **_**really**_** don't want to be eaten by the Cookie Monster, so save them!**


	5. Betrayal

**A/N: Hello, peoples of fanfiction!**

**My first order of business today is to thank all the wonderful readers who reviewed, favorited, or subscribed to this story! I so should have done this earlier but I didn't so… Sorry!**

**Yuti-chan:**** You, my friend, are amazing! Thank you so much for not only reviewing, but reviewing every chapter! *glomps* You *sheds tears of joy* are a model reader and reviewer! Also, when I was being an extreme baka and replaced chapter 3 with chapter 4, you notified me of that fact, and for that, I could not be more grateful.**

**xXLoveXxXIsXxXDeadlyXx:**** Aren't cookies just the greatest? Crunchy on the outside, soft gooey on the inside… Yummy… Oh! Thank you for reviewing! The fact that you like it and want to see how it turns out is… fantabulous! There we go!**

**.Facade.X:**** Once again, thank you for reviewing, and also thank you for your input on the story! I hope you were pleased with the outcome!**

**night-and-autumn:**** Thank you for reviewing, and I will try to update more quickly! (I think this was sooner than the last one… I hope T_T)**

**amaya-chan:****Thankies for your review! Your advice was highly valued and greatly appreciated, and I hope I've been doing better!**

**TheRealGoodyTwoShoes: Bravo to the first reviewer! You were absolutely right… But I fixed it! Thank you!**

**Okay… I got everyone! Thank you! As promised, cookies to all of the reviewers!**

**Disclaimer: Own Naruto, I do not.**** That was Yoda, in case anyone was wondering. I'll try to remember to put in one of these every chapter, but I really don't see the point of it…**

**So read! Review! Enjoy!**

* * *

><p><span>Ch. 5: Betrayal<span>

_Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. _"No! It's a tie—again!" I was currently my free time while riding on fish-man's shoulders playing tic-tac-toe against myself, and it turned out that I was an extremely good opponent. Some might say it would be easier when you know your opponent's every move, but that was not the case. No, it only served to make this epic clash of wit, intelligence, skill, and strategy even more intense!

…

Okay, guess I got a little carried away there. But what was I supposed to do other than play tic-tac-toe by drawing in the air and count the number of times I bounced due to Kisame's running and jumping. Right now I was on 2,319,064,881… 2,319,064,882… 2,319,064,883…

Ugh… I twisted my head and shoulders around, which was quite difficult seeing as Kisame had a death grip attaching my hips to his shoulder, and I was face-down. As I looked up, I saw that the thick canopies of the surrounding trees were thinning; we were nearing the edge of the forest. It must have been a least the early afternoon… We had been travelling all day, with only a few breaks. Gazing at the cloudless blue sky for a few moments, I twisted back around and leaned my upper torso over Kisame's back, trying _very_ hard to ignore the fact that I was staring at his fishy butt…

After a good half hour or so, the group, which I had dubbed the Jinchuriki Protection Squad (JPS), decided to stop for a break… More like Konan suggested it, Itachi said, "Hn," Deidara said, "Un," Sasori said nothing, and Kisame translated for them all by saying, "Yeah."

So with that elaborate and intensive discussion out of the way, everyone slowed down. We were far away from the forest by now, and frankly, I was jumping up and down inside my head with joy. I'd spent so much time in dark, enclosed places: prisons when I was captured and forests when I was running and hiding. Now we were in the middle of a wide-open area where the tall grasses could be seen swaying back and forth on the gently sloping hills for miles in every direction. The lack of trees was a great relief for me; I figured I was a circumstantial claustrophobic now. The others looked none too pleased with this, though, because to them, wide-open spaces meant 'Danger! We are visible from miles away! Must find cover and hide from the Akatsuki immediately!'

Okay, go right ahead and call me stupid for dismissing this, but I thought that if they really wanted to ambush us, they would have done so in the forest. Oh well.

Finally coming to a halt in between two of the larger hills, I saw a shallow river that wasn't too far off and Kisame slid me off his shoulders. It was then (one might say this was a case of extreme observation skill deficiency) that I realized just how _huge_ my fish-face friend was. I mean, he had to be six and a half feet tall! I was a bit taller than average, standing at 6'6" or 6'7", and that made him a foot taller than me. I looked around and saw that Itachi and Konan were both taller than me; Itachi was probably a good three or four inches taller than me and Konan was at least an inch taller than me. Deidara was probably the same height as me, and Sasori was an inch or so shorter. Besides them, I remembered that the rest of the Akatsuki were around six feet, give or take an inch… I bet Deidara and Sasori felt left out being the short guys of the group. I snickered quietly at that, which caught Kisame's attention.

"Whatcha laughing at, little shortie?" I glared up at him at my new nickname.

"Oh, nothin', _fish-face_," I put extra emphasis on his nickname and kept going, despite his answering glare.

He looked unconvinced but ignored it. "Hey, how are your injuries?" He was referencing the several deep puncture wounds from Pein's metal rods and the bumps and

"By the way, I was wondering where exactly we are? I know we just came out of a huge forest that hid the Akatsuki base and all, but..."

At my last question, the rest of the JPS turned from where they were digging through their bags for food, probably. Konan explained, "The Akatsuki has various hideouts throughout the world. The one we were in was on the easternmost border of the Land of Fire. Now we're headed east to Sunagakure in the Land of Wind. The one-tailed Shukaku's Jinchuriki resides there as the Kazekage, and Pein will go after him first." My eyes widened. _The Kazekage? _Konan saw my surprise and grimaced. "Even if he_ is _the Kazekage… the chances he would win against one of the Akatsuki… are very slim, most likely. He might do better against some members, but he will inevitably fall, unless we—" Konan was cut off as everyone spun around, sensing the powerful chakra signature coming our way.

A little ways away was a black figure running towards us, and we prepared for a fight. In just a few seconds, Kakuzu was there, staring at our little group, and I swear he was smirking under that mask. I glared at him, as did the rest of our little group.

Kisame stepped forward. "What do you want, Kakuzu? Hoping we've changed our minds, huh?" He smirked and continued to glare at Kakuzu.

"What, you honestly think you couldn't use me? The position you're in, it seems to me that you can't really afford to be picky." Everyone was silent for a moment as they considered his words. Before anyone could reply, Kakuzu was gone. A strangled scream was heard, and I spun around to see him behind Konan, who was bound tightly with Kakuzu's tentacles, arms pinned to her sides, legs tightly pressed together, and mouth gagged.

Not a second later, I heard Deidara scream, "You bastard! Traitor! Wh—" I turned around once again to see Deidara with a sharp blade, wielded by Sasori, pressed against his throat that had some kind of liquid dripping off the end.

Sasori stared coldly at Itachi, Kisame, and finally me. "Once the poison on this blade—a specialty of mine—circulates through the bloodstream, your body will immediately become numb, unable to move. The poison will slowly kill you; you'll be dead in three days, no more." He had a slight smirk on his face as Deidara stopped struggling, still screaming curses at Sasori.

Kakuzu spoke up then. "You know, killing Konan would really be too easy. Let's see, I could just slit her throat, or I could crush her lungs, or maybe…"

"What the hell?" I screamed. "What do you want? Sasori, I thought you were with us?"

Sasori simply laughed at this. "What do I want? What do you think, little Jinchuriki? I want you, or rather the demon inside of you. Why else would we be after you, you who have no more significance in this world than an ant." He turned to Itachi and Kisame. "Now, hand over the Jinchuriki and we'll give you Konan and Deidara."

Kisame growled, "No way in hell," and took his sword off his back. "Samehada will rip you both to shreds before you move an inch!"

Kakuzu laughed and said, "Well, if that's what you want…" He paused and his tentacles dragged Konan about fifteen meters away and then detached themselves from Kakuzu's body, with Konan still immobile in their grip. More tentacles sprouted from his cloak and raced towards Kisame.

Sasori sighed and took out another blade and quickly cut a shallow cut on Deidara's neck, and after a mere three seconds, Deidara collapsed on the ground, unconscious. I gasped in shock, and Sasori said, "Don't worry, little Jinchuriki, he's not dead. I just knocked him out for a good while so he wouldn't get in the way." Momentary relief was replaced by a sudden surge of anger and hatred for this traitor. _That bastard! I'm going to kill him…_ But as I thought that to myself, I knew what a childish sentiment it was. Sasori of the Red Sand… he was immensely powerful, and I had no chance against the likes of him.

Sasori then pulled out a scroll from his sleeve and opened it, revealing the number three on it. The scroll was outlined with a purple glow, and then a burst of smoke surrounded him. When it cleared, I could see a life-sized puppet in the air above Sasori with gray skin, pale red almond shaped eyes, spiky black hair, and a huge brown cloak covering the rest of its body. Sasori moved his arms and fingers, which had chakra strings attached to the puppet so he could control it, quickly, and the puppet moved unbelievably fast towards Itachi, who had activated his Sharingan and prepared to dodge whatever attack he threw at him. As the puppet was flying toward Itachi, several long blades that dripped with poison extended from one of its arms.

As Kakuzu's tentacles neared Kisame and Sasori's puppet closed in on Itachi, all I could think was, _No. This can't be happening. I have to stop this before Itachi, Kisame, Konan, and Deidara are killed. They won't die. No. NO! _

Suddenly, though my screaming inside my head, I heard a deafening roar. Time slowed to a standstill as the sound exploded inside my mind. Eventually, the roar died down, and a voice spoke: '_Do you want your friends to die?'_

_NO! They can't die!_

'_And how do you suppose to prevent that possible outcome? You don't stand a chance with a couple kunai and some jutsu. Even if you're better than most shinobi, you still don't compare to two incredibly powerful S-class ninja.'_

I heard a deep voice inside my head. I couldn't _see_ anything, but there was definitely someone, or something, there. It was an experience somewhat akin to my conversation with the dragon Juubi… _Why thank you for pointing out that obvious fact. Sarcasm intended. But may I ask who the hell are you? And what can you do that will help me?_

'_Mind who you're talking to, little hatchling! Must I remind you that you possess the Rykugan are the dragon Juubi's Jinchuriki? Do I also need to remind you that if you took the time to develop your powers instead of shutting them away so you don't have to deal with them, you would be able to summon an extremely powerful dragon or two, or even the ten-tailed dragon itself?'_

_I didn't… Okay. Maybe you're right. But what can I do now? It's far too late to train now… I don't stand a chance. _

'…_Foolish hatchling. I am the ten tailed dragon's right hand, Takeshi, second only to Ryuu-sama, the dragon Juubi. And, maybe Tsukiko, who is my female counterpart. Back to the matter at hand, don't you think that a mighty dragon such as myself could at the very least scare off these pathetic little Akatsuki mongrels?'_

I could hear the smugness in his deep voice; he was quite confident, wasn't he? But… I couldn't believe this. The only time I had summoned a dragon was the relatively small one back when Chio and I had first encountered Madara. And then that one time, while the Akatsuki were trying to extract the dragon Juubi, or Ryuu-sama, as Takeshi had called it…

_You mean you would help me, even with no training?_

Takeshi growled. _'Just this once, little hatchling. Just this once, and then you have to figure the rest out by yourself. Well, not by yourself, but I sure won't be helping you like this again, with no effort on your part, understand?'_

_Of course. Now what do I have to do?_

'_Don't do anything. I'll take it from here. Those men threatened you, my one link to the outside world. I'm not going to let you die and have to sleep another 500 years like last time! Besides, all that down-time has left me hungry for a good battle! This is gonna be fun!' _I smiled; this Takeshi was actually nice on the inside, but he covered it up by maintain that cool, smug, and hard façade. I got the feeling that if I lived through this, we might get along.

That was before the excruciating pain that split my mind open. I heard the same roar as before, except this time, it was ten times louder. I screamed and fell to the ground on my knees, my fingers digging into the grass below me.

"What the _hell, _Takeshi? THIS WASN'T PART OF THE DEAL!" He answering chuckle/growl only served to infuriate me even more. Then, before I could yell at him anymore, I started shaking violently and let out another scream as my mind was torn apart in Takeshi's attempt to free himself.

* * *

><p>(Itachi's POV)<p>

Dammit! How could he! How cold Sasori betray us? I was getting ready to block or dodge the incoming puppet when I heard a bloodcurdling scream come from Ayano, who was on her knees between Kisame and I. Everyone stopped what they were doing in shock, staring at her Her eyes were closed, and she was silent for a moment.

Then, she let out another scream, and her eyes opened. If her eyes weren't strange enough already, the quivering black circles around her pupils started… _chasing_ the deep blue out of her irises and making them completely black while staining the whites blue. The black irises then morphed into the shape of a ten-pointed star, with a blue hole in the middle. It was fascinating and unsettling at the same time; like a car crash—you couldn't look away.

Once the transformation was done, she stood shakily up, looking like a zombie. Her eyes, which I couldn't tear my gaze from, were staring straight ahead, and I had the distinct impression she was somewhere far away at the moment. She let out one more scream, this time in words. "What the _hell, _Takeshi? THIS WASN'T PART OF THE DEAL!" I was thoroughly confused by now, a feeling that wasn't overly familiar to me. Then, Ayano started glowing gold and I decided that I was somehow dreaming this whole time, and would wake up any minute. The gold haze that surrounded Ayano's body then started moving, convulsing, around her. It thickened and morphed growing up to ten times the size it had been before, completely obscuring her body. The haze suddenly shot up into the air, Ayano's eyes following it, and it began to actually take a recognizable shape.

Once it was done forming, I was at a loss for words. Even though I knew Ayano was the dragon Juubi and all, I didn't expect… _this._

* * *

><p>(Ayano's POV)<p>

…

_Geez… Is this what a hangover feels like…? _I was pretty sure that I had just surfaced from unconsciousness. My eyes were open, but it took a few seconds before I could actually see. I was staring straight up at what should be blue sky, but was instead a mass of brilliant, almost blinding, gold. As I focused in on the area, I could see individual golden scales covering a thick, long, muscular neck. I moved my gaze up the powerful neck and saw the bottom of a huge golden jaw. Still in a daze, I turned around and saw the long body extended for a countless number of feet, coiling protectively around my body.

"Takeshi? Is that you?" My voice was small as I stared in awe at the magnificent beast.

'_Ha! You're impressed, as you should be. Now move it so I can take care of these little ants!' _

_Yes! _I absorbed his sheer joy, and shared my own with him. Remembering what I had been told, I jumped over his tail and ran to stand next to the mute Itachi. I joined him and looked up at Takeshi's face, now that I could actually see him properly. He had moved his head to watch me as I stared up at him. Magnificent didn't even begin to describe him… His huge, bright, intelligent, wise, golden eyes; his long, shimmering snout; his lips were curled up to reveal huge, gleaming white fangs that he bared in what I took to be a grin. I realized that my mouth was hanging open and hurriedly shut it, but did not try to conceal the joy and admiration in my eyes.

He chuckled again, a throaty sound that almost sounded like a cough. "Humans," He said aloud to Sasori and Kakuzu, who had stopped in the middle of their attack to stare at the huge dragon before them. "Leave now, or I will kill you. Trust me; you don't want to face a dragon of my caliber in a fight." With that, he let out his strange cough/chuckle again. His cocky tone harbored no sign of doubt, weakness, or worry. Takeshi was absolutely sure that he would win, and I wasn't prepared to test that out. I had no idea what kind of skills he had, but if he was second only to the dragon demon inside me as he claimed, then I had no doubt he would win.

Sasori and Kakuzu snapped from their stupor and looked… anxious, apprehensive, maybe a little harried… but they exuded no signs of being scared. However, I was fairly sure that inside they had to be somewhat frightened, because they looked at each other for a moment before seeming to agree on something.

Kakuzu cleared his throat and inclined his head. "Okay. We'll back off for now, my little dragon Jinchuriki. It seems you're more powerful than Leader thought…" Kakuzu's voice still had that smug tone as he looked at me with mock respect, and it infuriated me. "But don't worry, _we'll be back._" Damn that bastard, he knew that this was a one-time thing; or at least he guessed something similar.

He and Sasori continued to back away, Sasori's puppet disappearing in a puff of smoke and Kakuzu's tendrils returning into his cloak. They neared the base of the hill, where Deidara and Konan had been deposited. In a flash, they were right next to the unconscious bodies, poised to kill them both, when in that split second between life and death, Takeshi roared and the two Akatsuki members were suddenly encased in solid rock, except for their faces. Then, in an instant, Takeshi uncoiled his body a little and extended his neck forward as fast as lightening. His head turned to gaze at Sasori and Kakuzu in turn.

"Now, now, that's not what we agreed to, is it?" That said, he took the stone blocks in his mouth one by one and tossed them onto the top of the hill. Once they stopped moving, the rock receded from Sasori and Kakuzu's bodies, and the two stood up unsteadily, wobbling slightly. _Now_ they looked scared, and I grinned maliciously. Takeshi extended himself to in front of where they stood, and raised his head regally, looking down at them with contempt. He growled dangerously and said in a much more threatening voice, "You two will leave, _immediately_, and will not show your faces for a good while, or I will regret not killing you. Understand."

Sasori had regained his composure somewhat and nodded. "Of course." He and Kakuzu _poofed_ out of the area, and Takeshi came back with his lips curled up again in his scary-grin. "Well, that went well!" Turning to Kisame and Itachi, he said, "You two might want to go check on your friends." Once they nodded and ran off towards Deidara and Konan, he looked back at me with a much more serious expression (at least for a dragon), positioning his body so that he was on eye level with me. "Ayano… You are a bearer of the Rykugan and have the potential to summon great dragons such as myself. This makes you the Dragon Sage; if your twin sister was still alive, she would be one as well. You do realize now that you can't run away from who—or _what—_you are anymore, right?"

I shifted my eyes to the ground in shame. I had tried to bury this part of me… After Chihiro died, I didn't want to think about it, let alone do anything with my abilities… _Chio… Idiot! She wouldn't want me to ignore my—our—power, whe would want me to train and develop it to the fullest extent and use it to take revenge on Madara! Well, maybe not the revenge part, she wouldn't use something as emotionally influenced as revenge as a reason for killing, but still… She would want me to _try!

I looked up at Takeshi with somber eyes. "You're right. I'm so stupid… To think that I would completely disregard a part of my soul, my body… It won't continue! Please… Teach me how to use my Rykugan, how to fulfill my potential as the Dragon Juubi Jinchuriki."

As he took in my renewed determination, he chuckled. "Glad to see you've come to your senses. But before I go you might want to—"

"Oi!" Kisame was running back with Itachi, Deidara and Konan slung over each of his shoulders. When they reached me, he set them down gently and looked back up at me with an expression I couldn't quite read. I looked at Itachi who wore the same unidentifiable expression. My face must have belied my confusion because Itachi hurried to explain.

"Uh… You see… there's something… Ah…" At a loss for words, he looked at Kisame desperate for a way out.

"Your eyes are freaking us out!" He blurted out.

My eyebrows drew together in confusion as I said, "What? Aren't you used to them by now? I…" They didn't let me say anymore and instead dragged me over to the nearby river. I looked down at my reflection, easily seen in the slow current, and gasped. _What the hell?_ My eyes, instead of having deep blue irises and three thin black circled radiating around the pupil, the whites of my eyes were now dark blue, and where the irises should be, there was a ten pointed black star about the size of a normal iris, with a deep blue hole in the middle. "Oh my Kami! They're freaking creepy! What the hell!"

Takeshi chose that moment to come on down and join us, moving his head next to me and peering at me from the corner of his eye. "Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention. Whenever you summon a dragon, your eyes will change to those of the ten tails. It's normal," he said in a cheery voice.

"Normal? But this didn't happen when Chihiro and I summoned our dragons the first time!"

Takeshi thought for a moment before replying, "Hmm, that's probably because it was _both_ of you summoning. When your twin was alive, you both shared the Dragon Juubi's power; you were both basically half-Jinchurikis. But now that Chihiro is dead, you have twice the amount of power, and are therefore a full Jinchuriki with full access, if you're powerful enough, to the ten tails' power. So, I think that's it: since you now have a better connection with the Dragon Juubi, you are more powerful, and consequently, you exhibit more of her characteristics."

I let the information sink in, but didn't really understand it. I let it slide, however, to mull over another time and instead asked, "Her?"

"Yes, The Dragon Juubi is a _her_." He sounded pretty pissed off at me, so I decided not to say anything else. "And a word of advice, you really shouldn't say anything even remotely disrespectful towards Ryuu-sama or my sister, Tsukikio, will have your head. Remember how I said she and I were the right-hands of the ten tails? Yeah well she's _way_ stricter about stuff like that than I am. You're lucky you got me, Ayano," he said with his dragon-grin.

"Uh, yeah…" I looked over at Kisame and Itachi, who looked confused as hell at our little conversation. I sent them a look that said '_later' _and turned back to Takeshi. "So, about the eyes…"

"Ah, yes! Well, as long as your summoned dragon is still with you, you keep the eyes. As soon as I leave, they go back."

"But…" I stopped when I realized I didn't want him to go, that I wanted him to stay and teach me.

He laughed and said, "Don't worry. I'll help you train, and you'll always be able to talk to me in your head. One day, once you're good enough, maybe you'll be able to come to my home to train… But until then, you'll have to work your way up!" With that, he gave me gave me as reassuring look as a dragon can, and then… _poof!_ He was gone.

I looked down at the river and saw that indeed my eyes were back to normal and turned back to Itachi and Kisame. "Hey, you think—" I didn't get another word out before my eyes rolled up into the back of my head and I collapsed, exhausted, on the damp grass.

* * *

><p><strong>Yay! It's only been one week! *jumps around in excitement* Reading other fanfiction does wonders for the imagination… Well I hope you liked it!<strong>

***sigh*I didn't want to make Sasori a bad guy… he's awesome! As for Kakuzu, I think we all expected him to turn out bad in this story, you know? Oh well, you gotta help out the bad guys sometimes, right? Or else there wouldn't be any more bad guys! Which would just make for a suck plot…**

**Also… They're going to be in Suna next to help Gaara as I said, but what I'm stuck on is **_**what **_** to do when they get there. I mean, do yo think I should follow the original story line and have Sakura and Granny Chiyo battle Sasori and someone else battle Gaara? Should Gaara be captured (which I kind of want to do, just to keep the plot alive) or should Gaara and the JPS kick the Akatsuki's ass? If so, who would you like to battle Gaara?**

**OR… should I do something completely different? I don't have any idea as to what that could be, so please Let me know hat you think, people! Save me from my terrible planning!**

**Until then, sayonara! ^o^**


	6. An Old Friend

**A/N: Hello everyone! I hope that this isn't too late; I've been trying to get the chapters out sooner!**

**Thank you to:**

**Yuti-chan**** for reviewing the last chapter and continuing to offer advice!**

**xXLoveXxXIsXxXDeadlyXx**** for reviewing the last chapter as well. Anti-planning writers unite!**

**Cookies! *hands out cookies and bows***

**So… this chapter is sort of a little filler so I can work out the details for the Suna Arc (I don't care if classifies as an actual arc or whatever, that's just what I'm going to call it!) I'm still open for suggestions, so voice your opinions! If not, I'll just go with what I've got. Also, it's kind of a spur of the moment thing, but I'm introducing two more OCs, so… yeah. **

**I'm just going to apologize in advance because I will probably mess up on some of the terminology and other stuff from Naruto, like names, titles, jutsus, etc. For example, I wrote Deidara's accent as "un," but when I was watching the episode again, I realized that it was "hmm," or something like that (I think). So if I mess up on something, just let me know, okay?**

**Oh, I don't know if you remember or not, but in the beginning, when Ayano was battling the Akatsuki, she had a sword named Dragon's Fang, or just Fang, that helped her channel and manipulate chakra and all that. In my description, I said it was six feet long, but I'm changing that to three and a half feet long. I'll explain it more in the story, but I just didn't want any confusion.**

**Ayano: What? I loved that sword! Six feet is a perfectly reasonable and awesome length!**

**A/N: No. Six feet is taller than you by five inches, my friend, and only Kisame's able to pull off a sword that huge, because **_**he**_** is huge. End of discussion.**

**Ayano: …Bitch.**

**A/N: *sigh* Your insults do not affect me, Ayano. As for all you readers, keep doing what you do, which is read, and while you're at it, review. I have cookies **_**and**_** brownies this time! ^^**

* * *

><p><span>Ch. 6: An Old Friend<span>

"Hey, shortie! Wake up, already!"

I dimly felt someone shaking me, and instead of listening, I turned over and mumbled, "Leave me alone…"

The person, however, wasn't feeling very cooperative. "Wake up now, or I'm gonna dump you in the river! You could use a good bath in your condition, anyway."

When I didn't reply, I felt strong arms pick me up and start moving. This jolted me from my sleep, and I sat up, yelling, "No, no, I'm up! But you're probably right, I _could_ use a bath." I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as I was set down on the ground. Once I could see, I looked up at none other than my fish-fry friend who was grinning maniacally. "Shut up, fish-face," I grumbled and started walking down the river and around to the other side of the hill until I got to a place where I was invisible to the rest of the group. It looked like it was close to midnight—the full moon shone brightly directly above me and millions of stars dotted the night sky—and I wondered why Kisame had been so insistent on waking me up. I remembered collapsing earlier that afternoon… I must've been out for eight hours, at least.

Once I got to a nice spot, I realized that the only clothes I owned at the moment were the ones I had on, and they were hardly even recognizable anymore. With this in mind, I sprinted back to our makeshift camp and saw Itachi and Konan sitting on opposite sides of a small fire, eating some onigiri. Konan looked up at me as I neared them, and Itachi glanced at me for a moment before returning his gaze to the fire.

"Uh, Konan, you look like you're the same size as me, so do you think I could borrow some clothes? These need to be dumped," I said, pointing to my tattered clothing.

She gave a slight smile and rose, walking over to her bags. "Sure. Here you go." She handed me a bundle of clothing and I nodded in thanks, heading back to the river. I found my earlier spot and stripped down to my undergarments, diving into the cool, luxurious water. The water was pretty deep, and I just soaked for a good five minutes before I began scrubbing viscously at my body, removing all of the dried blood, mud, dirt, and sweat. That done, I began the task of attacking my hair, which was a complete nightmare. There were twigs and leaves and more mud and blood in it, not to mention the fact that it was so tangled it took almost ten minutes to straighten out.

After a good long while, I had finally finished, and I stepped out of the river, wringing out my soaking hair. It came to the middle of my back, and I contemplated cutting it. I usually kept it at just a little bit longer than shoulder length, but I sort of liked it long. I pulled on the clothes Konan gave me, and found they fit almost perfectly. Black shorts, a black, long-sleeved mesh shirt, and a tight fitting deep blue dress/shirt type thing that come down to my mid-thighs and had slits up the sides. I then put on my trusty old elbow-length gloves and knee-high boots that had been with me for years.

Quickly digging through my old clothes to find a hair band, I walked over to the river while tying up my damp hair. I looked the same as I had a month ago, before I had been captured by the Akatsuki. It was amazing how so much could happen to me on the inside, while none of my physical characteristics would change. I did miss the familiar weight of my sword on my back, though, but I couldn't remember exactly what had happened to it. The Akatsuki must have taken it when they kidnapped me.

I sighed, wishing I still had the Dragon's Fang, the only thing I had kept throughout my two years of running and hiding after Chihiro died. I didn't have anything from home, and I had never stayed in one place long enough to acquire any memorable keepsakes. Picking up my torn up clothes, I trudged back to the camp, thinking in silence. The full moon above provided plenty of light for me to find my way, and soon I arrived back at the fire, where Kisame had joined Itachi and Konan.

When I sat down next to Konan, Kisame said "Oi, glad to see you're all cleaned up." I glared at him, and he continued. "Anyway, we were just thinking that, on our way to Suna, it might be a good idea to stop at one of the villages in between, to get supplies and find out if anyone's seen any signs of the Akatsuki." Konan and Itachi both nodded, and I shrugged. He grinned in response, exposing his sharp shark teeth, and said, "Right then! I believe the next city is on the way to Suna is Iwakura, so we'll stop there. And maybe, since you're better now, you'll get a little training done, shortie."

I knit my eyebrows together in confusion. "But… don't we have to get there as soon as possible?"

Konan shook her head. "No, I don't think so. I'm guessing Kakuzu and Sasori rushed back to Pein to report what happened. Right now, they're probably working out a plan, and besides, with the recent upheaval within the organization, there's sure to be a lot of confusion. So, no, I'm guessing we have another couple days before they'll make their move."

"Okay… Hey, Itachi?"

"Hn," he replied, looking up at me.

"Were you there when the Akatsuki captured me? And if so, do you know what happened to my sword? About three and a half feet long, three inches wide, multicolored…" I was holding my breath, praying that he had seen and taken it for me, even though this probably wasn't the case.

To my surprise, recognition lit across his usually emotionless face. "Ah… yes, I was there, and I remember that sword. I'll be right back." Seeing my hopeful face, he chuckled quietly, got up, and walked away, returning a minute later with his hands behind his back. When he sat back down across from me, he took his hands from behind his back, holding my long-lost sword in its sheath out to me, handle-first. "Here you are. I thought you might want that."

My jaw popped open and I reached out to grab the sword from his hands. "Fang…" I murmured, taking it out of the sheath and stroking the smooth blade which shimmered in the light from the fire. I looked up at Itachi with a wide smile on my face and said in my most sincere voice, "Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me. I…"

Itachi had a slight smile on his face as well. "Don't worry about it."

I kept smiling as he shifted his gaze back to the fire and looked around, noticing that something was off. "Wait a sec, where's Deidara?"

Kisame motioned to the space behind him, where I saw an occupied bedroll. "He woke up a while ago from Sasori's poison, but he's still trying to sleep it off. He should be good in the morning. Speaking of which, why don't we try to get a little more sleep before setting off for Iwakura." We all nodded again in agreement, and wandered off to get our own bedrolls. Konan once again saved me from my lack of supplies by giving me an extra bedroll she had, and I walked off to find my own little space. I put Fang in its sheath and lay down, pulling the thin blanket over myself. I clutched the handle of my sword tightly and quickly fell asleep, a smile still lingering on my face.

* * *

><p>I groaned as my eyelids cracked open, opening and closing several times before registering that it was already dawn; the sun was almost halfway over the horizon. I sat up and looked around to see that Deidara was the only other one awake.<p>

After bundling up my bedroll and stuffing it into my bag, I walked over to where he was sitting by the long-dead fire. He looked up at me as I tied my old swordsbelt, which Itachi had recovered as well, to my waist and attached Fang's sheath to it before sitting down next to Deidara.

"So I take it you're okay now, right," I asked. "No deadly side-effects from the poison?"

Deidara shook his head. "No. But I still can't believe that bastard Sasori betrayed us, hmm! I mean… Dammit!"

I looked at him with understanding, feeling my own anger return. "Yeah…me neither. Even if I didn't know him that well…" I got the feeling that trying to comfort him would only serve to infuriate him even more, so I stayed silent. After a minute or so, he seemed to calm down, and closed his one visible blue eye. "Um, I was wondering…" When he looked at me, I continued. "Why do you cover up your other eye with your bangs?"

In answer, he pushed his thick blonde hair out of the way, revealing a scope-type mechanism. "The scope helps with reconnaissance and other stuff, hmm. Hey, what about your injuries? I remember you said Pein stabbed you several times, and _then_ you fell from a tree. " At the last part, he couldn't help grinning a bit.

I glared at him for a second before grinning as well. "All better! Being the Dragon Juubi Jinchuriki _does_ have its perks after all."

"About that… What exactly happened while I was out? Kisame said something about a dragon…? He trailed off, waiting for an explanation.

I sighed. "Ah… Why don't you just ask Kisame to tell you later?" I wasn't really up to retelling the whole thing, nor was I sure that I would even be _able_ to explain it correctly from my point of view—I would probably just leave him even more confused.

He nodded, albeit reluctantly, and we lapsed back into silence. Not long after, however, I heard a very _loud_ yawn, which, as I turned around to confirm my suspicions, came from Kisame. His noisy awakening resulted in Konan and Itachi waking up as well. I got the feeling they weren't really morning people; the only reason I was in a good mood, or even awake, was because I had already gotten quite a bit of sleep earlier. No words were exchanged as we all prepared to leave, and soon, we were on our way to this "Iwakura" place.

* * *

><p>My first thought when we walked into Iwakura? Run. Get out. Leave. Any of those would be appropriate, really.<p>

My logical reasoning behind these thoughts? City=large crowds=people who are afraid of me, or more specifically my eyes=people who would like nothing better than to be rid of me. Or kill me.

See? Not crazy. I actually _do _have an excuse for my anti-socialism!

Well, I guess it wasn't so bad since I was surrounded on either side by Konan, Itachi, Deidara, and Kisame, who had all discarded their Akatsuki cloaks. The men all basically wore variations of the same outfit: baggy pants, mesh shirt, a shirt over that, along with the Akatsuki sandals. Konan's outfit was very similar to mine, seeing as I had gotten my clothes from her.

As we walked down the wide street, the crowd sort of parted like we were royalty, but I saw a bit of fear and mainly wariness on their faces. Now that I paid attention, I saw that they weren't staring at _me_, but at Kisame instead. _Of course. Who wouldn't be freaked out by fish-face? I know I was! He's seven feet tall and looks like a freaking fish! Oh, whoops, I meant _shark…_ right._

I nudged Kisame's side and hissed, "Oi, fish-face! Don't you think you're attracting just a _little _too much attention?"

He glared at me and started to laugh but stopped as the others nodded in agreement. "_Fine._" With that, he left, quickly disappearing in the thick crowd.

Itachi, Konan, Deidara, and I decided to split up after that, going off it different directions to ask around about the Akatsuki. I stopped to buy a couple dango sticks, and continued on my way while eating them. I asked random people as I wandered around, but every time, their response was always the same:

"Excuse me? Have you seen anyone wearing a black cloak with red clouds, and perhaps a wide straw hat as well?"

After maybe two seconds of staring, they would then say something along the lines of, "What _are _you?" or "What's wrong with your eyes?" or occasionally, "Oh my Kami, you're possessed, aren't you?" And then they would run off down the street, shrieking "Demon! Demon! Run!" the whole way. It was really getting _quite _old by the time I asked what felt like my hundredth person.

_This is the _last _person, and if they run around screaming their heads off again, I swear to Kami I am going to _kill _someone… or maybe several someones… Yes, that might be a good way to let off some off some steam… _So when I tapped the shoulder of the man in front of me, I was fully prepared to break his neck. It began with the same initial staring, but to my surprise (and disappointment), he did _not_ run around screaming as I expected, but instead said (much too loud for my tastes) "Kiyomizu! Is that you?"

I stared at him in shock. Tall, muscular, long, messy black hair, bright green eyes… I had a strong suspicion as to who this young man was, and as I looked down at his dog who had long, shaggy black fur that was similar to its master's hair and a white star on its forehead, it turned out I was indeed right. "Holy _crap_! Takeda?"

* * *

><p><em>It was raining heavily as my mother, sister, and I passed through a town whose name I didn't know. Chihiro and I were about ten years old; we were still jumping from town to town, only staying long enough to gather supplies with the money our mother earned from selling the blankets and quilts she made. Right now, we just wanted shelter for the night, but every time Mother asked for a room at and inn, they would take one look at our eyes—the Rykugan—and refuse. So we continued on, our hope of finding a room for the night shriveling up as time went on.<em>

_Then, as we were nearing the edge of the town, we passed by a brightly lit house. In one of the windows, I could see someone looking at us as we passed by. I nudged Mother, and we walked up to the house, our last option besides sleeping under the sparse cover of the forest surrounding the town. She knocked on the door as Chihiro and I stood back, not wanting the people inside to see our eyes immediately, lest the shut us out before we got a chance to explain. _

_The door opened and I could see a kindly looking, middle-aged woman smiling at Mother. Her thick mane of black hair was graying slightly and she had bright green eyes. She and Mother exchanged a few words and then mother stepped aside, motioning for us to come forward. We did so, and were shocked when the woman's eyes widened in not fear, but rather surprise and sympathy._

"_Look at you two! Poor things, you must be freezing!" Looking back at Mother, her smile widened. "Please, please, come inside! I'll make us some tea to warm you guys up. Hiroki! Get some blankets, quickly!" She rushed inside, waving her arms for us to follow her. After a moment's hesitation Chihiro and I walked in after Mother. The house was spacious and very warm inside, and a boy, about the same age as my twin and I, with messy black hair and bright green eyes grinned at us and offered several towels for us to dry ourselves off with. _

_He led us to what I supposed was their living room, and we sat down, slowly warming up. The woman came back with five cups of steaming-hot tea, which she handed out to everyone. "Hello. My name is Takeda Tomoko, and this is my son, Takeda Hiroki." Hiroki, who undeniably took after his mother, smiled and inclined his head respectfully. _

_Mother replied, "I am Kiyomizu __Mitsuko__, and these are my daughters, Chihiro and Ayano. My husband abandoned for the same reason everyone else has. Because they are…different, we've always been shunned by others. So, as you can imagine, this is a huge and very welcome blessing." We engaged in pleasant conversation for a while, that was until a shrill barking was heard and a small black dog came running into the room. It had long, disheveled fur, as well as a bright white star on its forehead._

"_Miyako," Hiroki exclaimed. "Be quiet! These are our guests!" He glanced at Chihiro and me sheepishly. "I'm trying to train her to be a ninken, but she's still a puppy. She's doing better, though!" I smiled and reached out to scratch behind Miyako's ears, which she happily responded to. _

* * *

><p><em>We ended up staying with Tomoko-san and Hiroki for several months—much longer than we'd stayed anywhere else. Chihiro, Hiroki, and I became great friends, playing with each other and Miyako day in and day out. We left their home eventually, finally abandoning civilization altogether and living in a small house in the nearby forest, occasionally visiting the family every now and then. <em>

* * *

><p>I laughed gleefully. "Hiroki! It really <em>is<em> you!"

"Ayano! It's been too long… What, it's been… almost six years since your family last visited! How've you—wait, where's Chihiro and Mitsuko-san?"

As soon as he said that, my face immediately fell. What was I supposed to say? _Oh, my mother and sister were murdered by some power-hungry maniac who's still trying to capture me?_ I didn't need to share the details with Hiroki—it would only depress him further—so I just said, "They're…gone, now."

A look of shock passed over his features. "You mean…? I nodded, and he looked crestfallen. "Oh. I'm…sorry."

I shook my head and gave him a sad smile. "Don't apologize. It's not your fault. Besides, what's done is done, right?" He was still understandably sad, but nodded all the same. "Anyways, looks like both you and Miya-chan got a lot bigger! What are you, six feet tall now? And Miyako's as tall as your waist!" I laughed again, trying to ease the tension. He grinned widely in return and Miyako gave a happy bark.

"Pretty much, yeah. And Miyako's a full-fledged ninken now! We've been traveling for a good four years now, and when we passed through Konoha, we actually ended up staying for a while. You see, there's this family there, the Inuzukas, and they use ninkens, so they helped me train her! We're not nearly as good at them, but she's great at tracking and stuff like that." He was very excited now, and I could feel my smile growing. It'd been a long time since I'd laughed this much, or smiled for that matter. Hiro was the only friend that I'd had before the Akatsuki captured me, and I couldn't believe that he was _here._

"So, you're still travelling, right? That's why you're here?"

He nodded and rubbed the back of his head. "Yup… Speaking of which, what are _you_ doing here?"

_Crap. I've been trying to avoid this conversation so far, but it looks like I have no choice._ "Yeah, about that. Well, there's no short way to tell the story, so are you ready?" He nodded. "Okay…"

* * *

><p>Hiroki was, needless to say, shocked. "Wow, you're a Jinchuriki? I mean, I know your eyes are weird, but… wow."<p>

I narrowed my eyes at him, half joking, half serious. "You're taking this awfully well, aren't you? I mean, no running, screaming, heart attacks, trying to kill me…"

"What? No! Why would I do that?" I gave him a disbelieving glance. "Okay, I know that other people might do that, but I've known you forever! Even if you do have a demon inside you or whatever… You're still the same Ayano, you know?"

"Yeah, well there's more. So about… a year… we were thirteen, so yeah. A year after we last visited you, this psychotic bastard showed up at our house in the woods. His name was Uchiha Madara, and he wanted mine and Chihiro's eyes for some twisted experiment or something, I don't know. Well, when he showed up, he immediately killed my mother, and captured Chihiro and I after that. We were kept in a prison for three years, and you really don't want to know the details, trust me." He grimaced, but I continued. "So after three years, he finally decided he was done with us, or Chihiro at least, and killed her. He would've killed me soon, too, if Uchiha Itachi hadn't come in then. He knocked Madara out, and we ran away. Pretty soon, we separated, and I travelled around for two years or so, training and keeping a low profile."

I took a deep breath. "Then, this organization known as the Akatsuki found me. Apparently, their leader, Pein, wants to extract all the Bijuu to become an all-powerful god or something. So, they tried extracting the Dragon Juubi, Ryuu, out of me, but Ryuu-sama broke me out of the jutsu, and it turns out half of the Akatsuki were good, and helped me escape. _Then, _one of our people betrayed us, and we were all about to be killed—well, maybe—when I talked to one of the dragons that's like a second-in-command to the Dragon Juubi, and he helped me fend off the Akatsuki. Now, me and the Jinchuriki Protection Squad as I call them are on our way to Suna to watch over the Ichibi, Gaara."

Hiro stood there blinking for a few seconds, absorbing the mountain of information I just gave him, probably not understanding half of it. Hell, I didn't even understand half of it. "Wow… That's intense. You've got yourself into some serious business here, Kiyomizu."

I laughed. "Yup. You know me, serious to the bone!"

"Uh huh. Right." He laughed as well, and kept a smile on his face as he became a bit more serious. "So, I'm coming with you, right?"

"What?"

"Oh, come on. You know you want me. Besides, when Miyako was training to become a ninken, do you really think I did nothing? I trained with the Inuzukas a little, too, and some of the other shinobi in Konoha. I'm pretty good at taijutsu, and I can do a little ninjutsu, but not much."

I hesitated. Did I really want to drag him into this? Sure, he would be a helpful seeing as Sasori left our group. Besides, Miyako's abilities as a ninken would be very useful if we had to track someone, and she could alert us if anyone was pursuing us. I sighed, then smiled a bit. "Yeah… Well, actually, it's not my decision to make. You'll have to ask the rest of the gro—"

"Oh, Ayano, there you are! Where'd you run off to…? Oh, who's this?" _Speak of the devil… _Konan was approaching Hiroki, Miyako, and I along with Deidara, Kisame, and Itachi, who all wore varying looks of suspicion.

I cleared my throat. "Guys, this is Takeda Hiroki and his ninken, Miyako. I've known him for a long time; our families used to get together a lot back when I still _had_ a family, and we were living in the forest. Hiroki, this is Konan, Deidara, Kisame, and Itachi." I pointed to each of them in turn as I stated their names. "They're the ones that rescued me."

Konan smiled, inclining her head slightly. "It is very nice to meet one of Ayano's friends."

Deidara gave a little wave, still looking at him suspiciously. "Same here, hmm."

Kisame let out a loud guffaw. "I didn't even think little shrimpie here had any friends! Good to meet you!"

Itachi stayed where he was and just glared at Hiroki. "Hn." With that, he looked away, and I couldn't figure out why he was so pissed.

I narrowed my eyes at Itachi, but he didn't seem to notice. Hiroki grinned and said, "Nice to meet you all! You have my respect for taking care of her so well."

I glared at him. "Oh, shut up, Hiro. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thank you very much." Turning back to the others, I said, "Um, I have a proposal. Seeing as Hiroki here has a trained ninken, and he himself is trained in taijutsu and a little ninjutsu, he was wondering if he could accompany us? I thought it would be a good idea; I mean, having a chakra sensor would be invaluable, both for tracking and escaping, wouldn't you agree? Besides, even if he is far from Sasori's equal, we still need as much manpower as possible if we're going to be clashing against the Akatsuki in Suna, right?"

They all exchanged glances, but before they could say anything, Itachi abruptly rejoined the conversation. "No."

I started in shock. "What?"

Itachi glared at Hiroki. "No. He'd only get in the way, and besides, I don't trust him."

I shook my head, becoming more frustrated by the second. "What the hell's your problem, Itachi? I mean—"

But I didn't get to say anything more because Itachi just turned around and started walking away. "Whatever, if you want to get your little _friend_ killed, be my guest. I don't care. Just don't come whining to me when he stabs you in the back."

I stared at Itachi's back with my mouth hanging open. _What the hell was wrong with him? I mean, why is he rejecting Hiro so vehemently? I don't understand. _

The rest of the group looked just as confused at Itachi's behavior, but Deidara recovered quickly. "Don't worry, he's still being his bitchy self, this is just the first time you've heard him say it out loud."

Konan rubbed her temples. "Okay, Deidara, shut up. Just because you have a grudge against him for dragging you into the Akatsuki… Just shut up, please." She looked at me with an apologetic look, and then turned her gaze to Hiroki. "I'm sorry about his atrocious behavior, he's not usually like this, but I think I might know why… Oh, never mind. But I think I speak for all of us, or at least the majority, when I say that we would greatly appreciate your help. However, you will most definitely need some training if you don't want to be killed by the Akatsuki."

Hiroki was dumbfounded at first, but in less than a second, he was grinning ear to ear. "Really? You mean it?" Konan and the others nodded. "Thank you! I'll train as much as possible and try not to be a burden!"

Deidara nodded. "You do that, hmm." Turning to me, he continued. "We couldn't find anything on the Akatsuki other than one person who said they'd seen someone in an Akatsuki cloak on the road to Iwakura. We decided to stay the night and rest. Any problems?"

I shook my head, and Kisame butted in. "Great! Now I'll take you, and Takeda too, I guess, to go train! Have you been working with your dragons, Ayano?"

"Yeah, as much as I could while travelling. I've been talking with Takeshi and he was explaining how to start summoning the little ones, as he called them."

"Good," Kisame replied. "You can work on actually summoning them for a while, and then we'll work on your swordsmanship. So that means I get Takeda here for the rest of the time, heheh." Hiroki visibly paled and sweatdropped, but Kisame didn't pay him any mind. Instead, he grabbed both of us by the arms and started dragging us out to the open field outside of town, Konan and Deidara following just to get a kick out of Kisame's teaching, I'm sure.

* * *

><p>I was standing quite a ways away from where Kisame and Hiroki were going at it. They were moving too fast for the untrained eye to follow them. It was amazing, really, how good Hiro had gotten at taijutsu. I knew Kisame was still most likely going easy on him, but still.<p>

I turned away from the two, closed my eyes, and sighed. _Takeshi? I'm ready to try the real thing, I think. _

* * *

><p><strong>I hope this wasn't too boring or whatever, but, like I said, it's a filler chapter. <strong>

**Okay, the Suna will actually be after the next chapter, because this one was really long, so I decided to split it into two. Okay? Please don't kill me. Anyway, I hoped you liked it!**

**Since I already have the next one done, I'm going to wait for a couple reviews until I post. So read! Review!**

**Au revoir! **


	7. Training

**A/N: Okay, before anyone tries to kill me, let me explain. Yes, I actually have a legitimate excuse this time… Oh, shut up… *glares at disbelieving readers* **

**Well, first, I was planning to update a week or two ago. Then, as soon as I turned the computer on, it died. So, we had to send it to my computer whiz brother so he can fix it, except he was on a trip… I ended up getting access to a laptop, found my flashdrive (which had all the chapters I wrote up on it, thank kami), and here we are. So please forgive, read, and review! Arigatou! **

**Oh yeah, Disclaimer time! (blargh) ****I do not, and probably never will, own Naruto.**** *cries***

**Thanks to: **

**xXLoveXxXIsXxXDeadlyXx**

**Yuti-chan **

**ShortSarcasm**

**The Deidara Effect**

**Cookies and brownies for all! *hands out promised food, bowing***

**Ayano: I'm still pissed at you for making my sword shorter.**

**A/N: And I still don't care!**

**Ayano: *gasp* You know, you can be really mean sometimes! *bursts into tears***

**A/N: Oh, geez… No, no, it's okay, you can have your six foot sword back…**

**Ayano: Really?**

**A/N: I knew it. Curse your skill at crying on command. The answer is no.**

**Ayano: Dammit…**

Ch. 7: Training

_Takeshi's now familiar presence filled my mind. Right now, we were standing beneath an unbelievably large mountain that reached up into the clouds. The muted sun gave a dull light to the surrounding area, and I looked up at Takeshi, who had stretched his body over thirty feet above me and was now preening himself contentedly. _

_He then grinned at me in his dragonly fashion, dangerous white fangs gleaming. "Are you, now? Well, you've already summoned a dragon, and as I've told you, the process is basically the same. You've been out of practice for a while, so we'll start small. Well, small for a dragon, that is. The one you'll be summoning today is a fire-type dragon. Her name is Akane, and she's a fairly decent fighter, which is what you'll need when you face the Akatsuki. Now, are you ready?" I nodded, taking a deep breath. "Go for it, then."_

_I looked up at the zig-zagging path that led up the mountain, and I followed it, Takeshi flying beside me. "Why can't I just ride on your back, Takeshi?"_

_He looked affronted and glared at me. "You? Ride on my back? No way little hatchling." I returned his glare, huffed, and continued walking up the steep mountain path. I continued for what felt like hours, but could have been seconds in the real world, taking frequent breaks to rest my burning legs. After a good long while, I reached a large ledge that jutted out from the side of the mountain and was covered in a thick fog. I sat down in the middle, gasping and panting, and saw that it had to be over sixty feet across. Up above, I could sense various chakra signatures above me constantly. _

_Takeshi alighted next to me. "If you haven't already guessed, those are dragons you're sensing. However, only the ones that are at your skill level or below are there. They are attracted to your power, but the one you want to summon, the strongest of the bunch, will not come down unless you catch her attention. Once you have done that, call Akane. I wish you luck, hatchling, and please do me a favor and don't get eaten."_

"_How the hell am I supposed to do that?" I began running through the possibilities in my head. _How in Kami's name was I supposed to impress a dragon? I mean, to them, I was just a little ant!

_I could hear a smirk in his voice as he replied. "You've got chakra from the Dragon Juubi, Ryuu-sama! You should be able to think of _something_. Improvise!" With that, he took off, diving out of sight in a flash of brilliant gold scales._

_I shook my head. _Dragons…What _is_ this place, anyway? I had to be visiting their home or whatever in my mind. That's the only explanation for why there are so many congregated in one place… I think. If that's the case, though, Ryuu-sama is probably here too, somewhere. Huh… _I sighed, trying to concentrate. I couldn't even see the dragons from here, I could only sense them… That's it! I should probably be able to pull off a big enough wind jutsu to blast all this fog away._

_Praying that I didn't hit any of the dragons, I performed a quick set of hand signs and yelled, "Kaze no Yaiba!" The blade of wind easily sliced through the thick layers of condensed moisture, carving a huge, circular pathway through the sky. The force of the jutsu also cleared the fog from around me, so I was able to see clearly. I could see dragons of every color cease their twirling and spinning to dodge the lethal wind. _

_After taking a few deep breaths, I raised my head to the sky where I could see dragons of every color staring down at me with curiosity and, with some of the smaller ones, fear. I felt a little sorry for them; they looked young and it must be frightening to have this human come to their home and start tearing the skies apart. Taking one more breath, I roared at the gathering of dragons, "WHERE IS THE DRAGON KNOWN AS AKANE!" _Oh kami, I am so screwed…

_I drew another large breath and was about to yell again when a loud roar resonated through my brain and I staggered back a few steps as a large, ruby-red dragon crash-landed into the ground before me, growling ferociously, all while managing to maintain a majestic and graceful appearance (man may never truly understand the dragons' mysterious ways…). I assumed this must be Akane. She was probably sixty feet in length, significantly smaller than Takeshi, but still huge. Akane's scales were gleamed radiantly, and she had a powerful, fierce body, muscles rippling with every movement. As my eyes travelled to her head, they were immediately captured by her eyes. They were the same intense ruby color, but it wasn't the color that made them burn. No, it was the ferocity, passion, strength, indignation, pride… She was truly intimidating._

_She let out another snarl and bent her neck so her head was right in front of me. It was then that my attention was attracted to her mouth and… teeth. Big, huge, sharp, serrated-looking teeth. Akane's canines were as long as my entire arm and looked like they could rip me in two in a matter of seconds. It was not a pleasurable experience staring them straight in the face. _

_Glowering at me for a moment, she growled, "Who are you, puny little human? A little snack for me? You don't even look very tasty… but I doubt you could put up much of a fight." She flicked her long tongue across her lips, then recoiled the slightest bit from me. "What? You bear Ryuu-sama's eyes… Impossible! It's insulting for such an inferior being to bear the eyes of the great Dragon Juubi! But for the same reason, I cannot kill you… Gah! This is ridiculous! What are you doing here, human?"_

_I gulped, but then drew up to my full height, feeling my stare turn cold and hard as fury and indignation flooded my mind. I needed to be strong, but I could feel my knees shaking under her penetrating gaze. "I am Kiyomizu Ayano, the Dragon Juubi Jinchuriki. Through the guidance of Takeshi, I have come here to begin mastering my power by summoning a dragon, namely yourself."_

_She recoiled again in shock. "You—You've talked with Takeshi-sama?"_

_Then, I felt a rush of air hit my head as I looked up to see Takeshi flying lazily above me before alighting next to me, eyeing Akane with interest. "Yes, indeed we have, Akane-chan. She's got quite a bit of potential. I helped her out when she was in a bind, but I told her she wouldn't get anymore help till she had enough skill to actually summon me. So now she's working her way up!"_

_Akane was still staring at Takeshi in shock, then at me, then at Takeshi again. Sighing, Takeshi turned his head to look at me. "You know, you really should address me with more respect. I am your teacher, after all. If you were this disrespectful to Tsukiko, she would—"_

_Yet again, I felt a blast of air above me and looked up to see a dragon of the same size as Takeshi; the only difference being their scales, which were colored silver instead of gold. Its eyes were the same steely silver color; cold, hard, sharp…The silver dragon landed next to Akane and glared holes into Takeshi who groaned, mumbling, "Speak of the goddamn devil…"_

_The silver dragon snarled and snapped, "What was that, Takeshi?"_

_He shook his head and replied in a sickly sweet voice, "Nothing, Tsukiko."_

_Tsukiko, who I remembered was Takeshi's sister, growled. "Thought not, little twit."_

_Takeshi roared then, causing me to curl up and cover my ears and Akane to cower in fear. "How dare you call me a twit! Must I remind you that I am older than you by three and a half minutes!"_

_Tsukiko quickly uncoiled her body and shot herself forward so that she was right in Takeshi's face. "Oh, really? Well I don't think, and our mother agrees, that your immaturity discounts that regrettable fact!"_

_Takeshi growled and lunged for her throat, but Tsukiko easily dodged the attack. "Ryuu-sama does not think that! You have no right to speak for her! I thought someone as uptight and rule-abiding as you would know that!" _Wow… the Dragon Juubi was their mother? And they were twins, just like Chihiro and I… At least we got along with each other, though… _I shook my head as their fighting escalated and the beginnings of a migraine stabbed at my brain._

_Finally, I'd had enough. I stepped between them, which, in retrospect, was a very stupid idea. "WOULD YOU TWO SHUT UP?" I did some handsigns and held my arms out to each of the dragons, yelling, "__SUITON: SUIROU NO JUTSU!" A gigantic sphere of water encased both of them, draining an immense amount of chakra because they were so large. I was only able to keep it up for a few seconds, though, before I fell to my knees, gasping. "You two *gasp* are so *gasp* freaking irritating! Just shut up already!"_

_I heard, or rather felt, an extremely loud snarl near my ear, and Tsukiko sounded beyond pissed. "You little bitch! How dare you! I ought to kill you!"_

_Before she could actually do that, however, Takeshi pretty much tackled her, as much as an overgrown snake/dragon_ _could. After they got up, though, they did not start fighting immediately. Instead, Tsukiko turned to me, and sounding grudgingly apologetic, said, "I—never mind. As much as I would like to pound your head in, I cannot. First of all because of your connection to Ryuu-sama. Second, I'm curious to see how powerful you will become. I must admit, it's been a long time since anyone, dragon or human, had the nerve to trap up, albeit for only a moment."_

_Takeshi grinned and I glared suspiciously at him. He'd planned this all out, hadn't he? If he noticed my glare, he didn't answer, and Akane approached the two dragons and me cautiously, apparently recovered now. She still seemed rather meek, and to my immense surprise, she inclined her head to me. "Dragon Sage Ayano, I apologize."_

_I started in shock at the sudden change in her behavior. "I… No, it's okay. But please, quit calling me the Dragon Sage. I don't know… Just call me Ayano, please."_

_Akane dragon-smiled slightly. "Ayano. You have earned my respect. You are as fearless and fierce as a dragon, yet you are in a human's body. I too wish to see how powerful you will become. For reasons unknown to all but Ryuu-sama herself, the Dragon Juubi Jinchuriki's way of summoning is different from the other Bijuu. Instead of becoming the Dragon Juubi, or even shrouding yourself in her chakra, tail by tail, you can only summon lesser dragons. I believe, once you are powerful enough, and fully connected to her through the other dragon, then you will be able to truly become the Dragon Juubi. Now, though, you don't need to know about that. Takeshi mentioned you did this before? Just do what you did then, and I'll do the rest."_

The dragons and the mountain had disappeared, giving way to reality. I opened my eyes and felt a peculiar sensation… remembering Takeshi's explanation, I guessed that the pupils were turning into ten-pointed stars and the whites were becoming dark blue, just like when I had summoned Takeshi. The sky was now significantly darker—I'd probably been in the dragon mountain place for a few hours, as it appeared to be mid-afternoon. Shaking my head, I stood slowly, stiff from sitting in the same position for hours. I remembered when Chihiro and I summoned our dragons, and did the same thing, with a few adjustments. I spread my legs slightly and stretched my arms out in front of me this time, palms forward and eyes closed. I dug up a good deal of chakra and focused it in my arms mainly, assuming that they would act like a "gateway" for Akane to come out.

Turns out that my guess was right. My arms, which were glowing gold, the color of my chakra, suddenly started glowing ruby-red, and I prepared for Akane. The chakra, like last time, started growing and shifting, but this time, to my relief, the charka started growing _away _from my body, not around it—that stuff was stifling when it completely surrounded me. It grew until it was roughly the same size as Akane, and then she solidified into her real form. Shaking out her body a little, Akane glared down at me, back to normal again. _Great…_

Akane rumbled happily. "Ah… this is nice! I've never been down here… It's so warm!" _This chick has some serious moodswings…_ "But…I didn't come here to smell the flowers! I came here so we could train! Ayano, prepare yourself!"

"What the hell? No—Argh—Stop! Now! Why in Kami's name are you attacking me? OW! That could have been my head! Seriously, what—Oh, shit! That is a goddamn FIREBALL! Are you insane? NO! NO MORE GODDAMN FIRE, AKANE!" I was breathing very heavily, practically gasping for breath. That crazy she-devil of a dragon had just started chasing me, snapping and biting at me, nearly missing every time. _Then,_she had brought out the fire power—literally. I remembered Takeshi said she was a fire-type dragon or something; _apparently_, that meant she could shoot out ginormous fire jutsus from her mouse without warning.

"What? Can't take the heat? You've gotta do better than that if you want to become one with the Dragon Juubi someday," she laughed gleefully with a hint of insanity. It was like she got a high from fighting… Wait a second, did she? …I really didn't want to know.

Akane spun around suddenly and slithered over to where I could see Kisame and Hiroki drenched in sweat and speechless at the sight before them, Miyako standing off to the side, not wanting to abandon her master. Leaning down, Akane growled, and then hissed at them, "Who are you, little humans?" Looking at Kisame and Miyako, she amended, "Or should I say, human, half-bred human, and mutt. I'm conducting a training session with my student right now, and if you don't leave now, I'll rip your throats out and eat you for a little snack."

Hiroki was…scared out of his mind, to say the least. Miyako was extremely anxious about him, but didn't want to get any closer to the monster in front of her. Kisame, getting over his initial shock of seeing a sixty foot long red dragon in front of him, smirked up at Akane, which infuriated her to an unheard of extent.

"What the hell are you smiling about, fish boy? I'll burn you to a crisp!" Hiroki and Miyako wisely got out of the vicinity as Akane yelled, "Katon: Karyu Endan," and let loose a huge pillar of flame from her mouth.

Kisame didn't move, but instead he did some hand signs and said, "Suiton: Suijinheki," as a huge wall of water formed from the water he spit out of his mouth, effectively stopping the fire jutsu. "You know, fire doesn't work so well against water, and especially not against this jutsu."

Before Akane could go completely berserk, and ran up to her and said calmly to all of them, "Okay, everyone just calm down. Seriously, why do I have to keep playing peacemaker, huh? Akane here is a dragon I summoned to help train me and to fight the Akatsuki. She is a friend, and Kisame, please _do not_ provoke her."

Kisame glared at me. "And what gives you the right to order me around, shrimpie?"

I thought for a moment before saying, "Nothing, fish-face, absolutely nothing. I just would rather not _die_ because I'm unprepared to fight the Akatsuki. So, now that that's covered, come on, Akane."

"You have no right to be ordering me around either, hatchling," she said indignantly, but followed all the same.

Before we got far, though, Kisame yelled, "Hey, why don't we make teams? You, Akane, Hiroki, and Miyako can battle me, Konan, Deidara, and…well, I guess Itachi won't be joining us, huh?"

Konan and Deidara walked over from where they had been watching the whole exchange from a safe distance. _I didn't even know they were there! Why didn't they intercede or something to prevent possible serious injury? _I looked up at the grinning pair and shook my head in disbelief.

Hiroki and Miyako walked over to me and I asked, "So what's our plan, genius?"

He held up his hands in a helpless gesture. "Hey, this wasn't my idea! But, I think we should just go at 'em, however stupid that may be, but I'll probably need support from you and Akane, like for defense or something in case they throw a jutsu at me that I can't dodge." I nodded and the four of us started approaching Deidara, Konan, and Kisame. Kisame grinned and came right at us, while Konan and Deidara stayed back. I saw Deidara reach his hand into a pouch at his side, and to my surprise I saw that he had…mouths on his hands, which were chewing something. (_Ew! He has mouths on his hands?) _ A moment later, he had a small centipede creature which looked to be made out of clay. (_Ack, his mouth-hands were chewing _clay!_ Can he taste it? Ew_…) Then he threw it into the air, and it became a very _large_ centipede creature. (_Oh my _Kami_, that is a huge centipede… centipede… oh, man, it's a freaking _centipede!)

I drew out my sword quickly to block Kisame's incoming swing and was driven back by the force from it. Akane took the opportunity to swoop in and try to grab Kisame, but he jumped back just in time, cursing. Meanwhile, Hiroki and Miyako were racing forward towards Deidara and Konan. The centipede thing then came at them, and they jumped away from it instead of blocking, which was very fortunate because as soon as the centipede reached the spot where they had just been, Deidara yelled, "Katsu," and it exploded. Deidara cursed and started shaping another one of his exploding clay creature thingies.

Akane motioned for me to get on her back, and I did so quickly. She took to the air and roared, soon hovering over the others. When Akane let aimed a huge fireball at Konan, she put her hands up and they became thousands of sheets of paper, forming a wall between her and the incoming flames. _It's paper, idiot! Fire burns paper! _But I was proved wrong when the paper wall effectively stopped the fire.

Akane roared in outrage. "What is the meaning of this? My fire cannot be stopped by _paper!_" I took a closer look with my Rykugan and saw that each of the sheets was imbued with a decent amount of Konan's chakra.

"Akane," I yelled. "She put enough chakra in those papers that they could overpower your fire! That won't work; we'll have to try something else!" She growled, but before she could say anything else, I saw a flash of blue come up beside me, and raised my sword just in time to block Kisame's Samehada. I flipped backwards over Akane's body as she twisted around in midair to go after Kisame, and land on the grass below with one knee bent, scanning the area to see where Kisame ended up. _Not there, not there, above? No. So he must be.. Behind me!_ I spun around, still bent low, raised Fang above my head to block Kisame's strike, and then kicked out with my free leg. He stumbled only the slightest bit and I gritted my teeth as the pressure on my arms didn't let up.

When I couldn't hold up, I braced my foot against his leg and shot away from him, panting. Not wasting a second, I brought my sword up and slashed diagonally downward, even though we was ten feet away. A long bold of lightning surged forth from Fang, and Kisame just barely dodged it, a bit of lightning catching his leg, causing him to grunt in pain.

I quickly looked over to Hiroki and Miyako and saw that they were under pressure from Deidara's numerous clay bombs. Seeing one coming up behind him that he didn't see, I took off and appeared behind him a moment later. I did a quick couple hand signs and said, "Doton: Doroku Gaeshi," my palm slamming into the ground as an earth wall rose up to protect us from the explosion, then spun around to face Deidara, did a couple more hand signs while sucking in a deep breath, and said, "Fuuton: Kamaitachi," as a huge gale of wind from my mouth blasted toward Deidara. He was blown back a good thirty feet, accruing a few shallow cuts on his chest.

Hiroki turned around to face me, looking relieved. "Thanks," he gasped.

I paused to catch my breath, panting from the sudden drainage of chakra, and responded, "No problem."

The battle continued, Akane viciously attacking Konan, Kisame and I swordfighting and throwing jutsus at one another, and Hiroki and Miyako battling Deidara with occasional assistance from me.

A good two or three hours later, the sky was beginning to darken, and we stopped…well actually, Hiroki, Miyako, and I were too exhausted to continue, so we just called it quits then… Akane went back to dragon-land and Hiroki and I collapsed next to where we had set our stuff down earlier, Miyako laying down heavily, whining. Deidara, Konan, and Kisame walked over, moderately tired and suffering from minor cuts and scratches, and sat down. Once I had recuperated a bit, I pulled out a small towel and wet it with the water from my canteen, wiping away the small amounts of blood on my body. Despite the ferocity of our attacks, everyone went fairly easy on each other, and no one had any injuries that wouldn't clear up after a day or two.

Once I had finished cleaning myself off a bit, I dug a snack out of my bag and began munching—I was _starving! _In between bites from my rice ball, I asked everyone in general, "So where'd Itachi stomp off to? I mean, you'd think he'd be back by now…Why was he so pissed off, anyway?"

Konan shared a nervous glance with the other two. "Umm… I… We don't know…" Kisame and Deidara nodded, and Hiroki just looked on confusedly.

I narrowed my eyes at her. What was wrong with those three? They were acting weird… "Whatever. I'm going to go see if I can find him." I stood up, tied on my swordbelt which I had dropped on the ground near my pack, finished my onigiri, and jogged off towards Iwakura.

(Itachi's POV)

_Stupid… Stupid Takeda. Stupid Ayano. Doesn't she see how he looks at her? Doesn't she see how… No. Don't think that. But is she really that oblivious? Of course she is. Ayano just thinks that it's two friends seeing each other after a long time, but… Besides, that guy's not trustworthy. Who knows if he's the one who sold her out to Pein, and he's just spying on us now? _

I stopped in the middle of the street, bathed in artificial light that blotted out the dark night sky above. Crowds still moved past me at this hour and I rubbed my temples. Why was I so angry and distrusting of that Hiroki? It didn't make sense… A small corner of my mind whispered, _You're jeal—_no. I couldn't…just no. I wouldn't even allow myself to think that. I can't become attached…

My thoughts were cut short as someone bumped into me. I instinctively stepped back from the person, as they regained their balance. I was about to turn around and keep walking when the person grabbed my forearm, saying, "Itachi! There you are."

…Crap. She was here. Ayano was here, and I didn't have a reasonable explanation for the way I acted. I had assumed she was mad at me for that, but instead, she had come looking for me. I turned around and saw her long black hair, delicate yet somehow strong facial features, pale skin, and those odd eyes that had both concern and surprise in them.

She looked up at me. "What are you doing here? Why didn't you come back? We had a little mock fight to train; you should have been there! It was really fun, and I was able to summon this big red dragon, Akane!"

I stayed silent while she babbled, unable to think. What was I supposed to say? At a loss for words, I resorted to my usual, "Hn." Before Ayano, that was usually all I said. But when I found her in that prison, I just felt the need to talk to her…She was so sad, and once I told her my name, she looked just the slightest bit happier. I couldn't help comforting her, no matter how much I wanted to walk away.

She frowned at me, but her eyes were bright. "Oh, come on. That's all you've got to say?" When I stayed silent, she huffed. "Fine, then. Let's go back." Still, holding my arm, she yanked it forward as she started running in the opposite direction, back the way she had come. I quickly adjusted to her pace, staring at the side of her bobbing head and not complaining about her tight grip on my arm.

(Konan's POV)

There was a sort of awkward silence when Ayano left to go fetch Itachi. We all ate in silence, making a little small talk. I sighed. _Does Ayano really not know why Itachi was so upset? Doesn't she see that he was jealous of Hiroki? For that matter, does Itachi even know the reason he was upset? Kami…_

I heard footsteps and looked up to see Ayano running toward where Kisame, Deidara, Hiroki, the dog Miyako, and I were gathered. Beside her was Itachi, and when I looked closer I saw that Ayano was dragging him along by his arm. I laughed quietly to myself; Itachi didn't look disappointed with this arrangement in the least. Then again, Ayano didn't even look like she was aware that her hand was still attached to his arm. _I repeat: Kami…_

They reached us, and Ayano let go of Itachi, sitting down with a sigh. Itachi slowly sat down next to her, avoiding everyone else's eyes and just staring off into space. "Sorry," was all he said. I sighed again, and Ayano rolled her eyes, leaning back with her hands supporting her.

Deidara spoke up then, "So, tomorrow we're going to head into Suna, hmm. However, we want to avoid as many people as possible while we're on the lookout for the Akatsuki; who knows how much information they've gathered. They might have visual information on us, and we're still viewed by the public as members of the Akatsuki. So try to avoid being recognized, hmm."

Ayano said, "'Kay," Kisame grinned and nodded, Hiroki clapped his hands together and said, "Alright," Itachi did his little "Hn" thing, and I inclined his head. On the inside, though, I was extremely anxious. We didn't know how many of the Akatsuki would be coming, or which ones. I was terrified that Pein would come or something, because I didn't know if we would be able to win against him, not to mention the other members that would most likely show up. I shook my head, trying to rid it of all the worrying thoughts. Whatever the case, we needed to be prepared for anything tomorrow.

**Just thought I'd throw these in here, in case you were wondering. **

**Fuuton: Kaze no Yaiba: Wind Style: Wind Blade**

**Katon: Karyu Endan: ****Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bomb**

**Suiton: Suijinheki: Water Style: Water Encampment Wall**

**Doton: Doroku Gaeshi: Earth Style: Terra Shield**

**Fuuton: Kamaitachi: ****Wind Style: Cutting Whirlwind**

**Hope that was a halfway acceptable chapter… Blargh… I'm trying to make Itachi slightly less OOC, but I'm pretty sure I'm failing. Oh well… Again, I don't have a computer, so it will take time, my friends! Time which you can spend reviewing! Because reviews give me that nice warm, fuzzy feeling, and I'll give you cookies, brownies, and… hmm… how 'bout… ice cream! I mean, who doesn't like ice cream? **

**Okay, I'll stop babbling… Addio for now, amici! **


	8. Frustration

**A/N: *falls onto knees, sobbing* I'm so sorry, people! Well, we got out computer back (yay for that one!), but then school started, and I've pretty much been doing nothing but homework, studying, and reading (for school) *sigh* Well, that's no excuse, but still! I'm sorry! **

**By the way! I'm looking for someone to beta my stories, so if any of you readers want to, or know someone who might, please tell me!**

**REVIEW APPRECIATION TIME! (you guys are the absolute BEST and the ones that keep me going! *glomps*):**

**ShortSarcasm**

**xXLoveXxXIsXxXDeadly**

**Yuti-Chan**

**SweetIcecream**

**The reviewee is very greatful! (Great, now I'm turning into Tobi, talking in 3****rd**** person… But Tobi **_**is**_** pretty awesome… Hmm…)**

**Oh, and not to forget everyone who put me on their Alerts/Favorites List! Thankies! *hands everyone who reviewed/favorited/subscribed cookies, brownies, ice cream, and popsicles***

**And now for the disclaimer… ****I. Do. Not. Own. Naruto. **** I only own my original characters and plot. **

**Again, sorry, but read and forgive? Updates will probably take longer due to school, because the only time I'll have to write is on the weekends…But I'll try! So…here you are! Read and review! Please? I'll shut up now…**

* * *

><p>Ch. 8: Frustration<p>

Konan, Deidara, Kisame, Itachi, Hiroki, Miyako, and I were sprinting as fast as we possibly could across the gently sloping and ever-changing sand dunes towards the mass of buildings in the distance, otherwise known as Sunagakure. _Too far, too long… Run! Hurry up, you useless chunks of flesh! _I screamed inwardly at my legs, which were burning terribly in protest at running so hard, especially after having only a few hours rest after yesterday's exhaustingly intense training session.

My breaths came in short gasps and sweat ran down my body in rivers, a result of both physical exertion and overheating from the arid desert conditions. I struggled to keep up with the others, who all wore equal expressions of determination, anger, and desperation.

I felt frustration well up inside me, surfacing like a great wave and flooding my conscious. We _had_ to get to Suna in time. There was no other option. We couldn't allow Gaara to be captured by the Akatsuki. Despite my fervent thoughts, I had a sinking feeling in my gut, and no matter how hard I pushed it away, one thought continually wormed its way into my head: _You're too late. They've already begun fighting; you can sense their chakra. And you'd know one of those chakras anywhere. Sasori of the Red Sand and Gaara, the Godaime Kazekage, are fighting at this very moment. And you know, even if you won't admit it, that Gaara's chances of winning are—_

I shut out the thought, refusing to listen any longer. I looked up and saw that we had halved the distance to Suna, but we were still too far. _Too far…_ I could sense their chakra much more clearly than when I had woken up almost an hour ago. Then, I could only sense two indistinct shinobi fighting. Itachi, Konan, Deidara, and Kisame had noticed as well, and we set off immediately, fearing the worst. Our fears were confirmed as we realized the Akatsuki had beaten us: they had already reached Gaara.

Kisame snapped suddenly and yelled to no one in particular, "Dammit! How could this have happened! How could that bastard slip past our fingers like that?"

Konan shook her head. "No… We should have been faster, we should have sensed him, and we should have been more prepared… I…underestimated both their skill and their audacity…"

Deidara cursed quietly. "There's nothing to do about it now… But… Argh! I'm going to _kill_ him!"

Itachi "Hn"d his assent. Even though he said nothing more on the matter, I could feel the anger rolling off of him in waves. I looked over at him as we ran and saw that he had activated his Sharingan. Shivers ran down my spine, both from my experience/memory induced fear of that legendary kekkai genkai and the sheer killing intent that radiated from his red orbs.

Hiroki stayed silent and I turned my head to face the great city in front of us, growing larger and larger with every passing second. My heartbeat pounded in my ears in time with my footsteps, and another minute passed.

Suddenly, I felt one of the chakras, which had been steadily decreasing, almost disappear, and the other chakra started moving away from the village at a rapid pace. I glanced at the others, who nodded at each other, and we veered away from our current direction to follow the chakra, which was unmistakably Sasori's.

We steadily drew closer to him, and I could sense him fighting someone else. _Dammit… We're too late, _I though as I felt the other person's chakra dwindle away as well.

Soon, we reached the site where Sasori had been just a moment ago, but said man was nowhere to be found. I cursed silently as I was unable to detect any trace of his chakra and instead focused on the black-clad shinobi before me. Konan approached as well and kneeled down to check his pulse. "This isn't good… It looks like he's been poisoned, no doubt by Sasori. He won't last long like this; we need to get some help for him."She and I looked up and saw a team of ninja approaching.

They came to a stop before us, and Deidara called out, "Wait a second! Before you guys start freaking out, you should know that your man's gonna die if he doesn't get some help, and quickly, hmm. We're on your side, yeah!"

They still looked highly suspicious, but nodded all the same in acceptance of our offer. Kisame knelt to pick him up, and with one final look in our direction, the shinobi before us turned around and headed in the direction of Suna, our group following close behind.

* * *

><p>It took a few hours to arrive back at Sunagakure, and when we did, the team of shinobi quickly rushed into an operating room, where Kisame laid the injured shinobi on a table. Medic-nin rushed about and a flurry of activity ensued. One of them frantically motioned for us to back off, and when we did, a man with a white cloth covering half his face approached us. "I'm sure you can understand, but the village is in a very chaotic situation right now, and I, along with many others, are curious as to why you seven happened to be coming to Suna with apparent knowledge of what was going to happen, as well as the fact that you were at the site where Kankuro was found. Not to mention the fact that several of you," he glanced at each of us for a moment, "are listed as missing-nin. I don't care what you say, but his all looks very suspicious."<p>

Konan sighed and suggested, "We will answer all of your questions, but perhaps here isn't the best place to be discussing these things." The man acquiesced and led us into a large chamber which held a long, wooden table and over a dozen chairs. Hiroki looked around with surprise as Miyako sniffed around. He gave me a nudge as Konan motioned for me to begin talking. "Well, you see…"

* * *

><p>The man named Baki nodded, processing all of the information we'd just thrown at him. Turning to me, he began, "So you're a Jinchuriki…" I nodded. "…And you joined up with these ex-Akatsuki members to try and stop the rest of the Akatsuki from capturing the Bijuu. This is… unexpected to say the least."<p>

Deidara then said, "There's something else you should know, hmm. The man that took you Kazekage—well I guess he can't really be described as a man, but whatever—is Sasori of the Red Sand." From the look of shock on Baki's face, I could tell he recognized the name. "Yeah, he came from your village, and as I'm sure you already know, he's a master puppeteer. Also, he excels in poison making, antidotes for which only he has, and that's most likely what your ninja back there is suffering from, hmm. I'd give him three days before—"

Baki shook his head once, before yelling, "No! Kankuro _will _live, no matter what you say." Turning around, he began walking away. "I have to go find someone… Talk to one of my assistants to find out where you'll be staying… And…" He paused, tilting his head slightly. "I may still not trust you fully—I would be a fool to do so, but… Thank you, nonetheless, for the help you have provided. I have a feeling that you wish to stop the Akatsuki as much as we do…at least, I hope you do." With that, he walked away down the corridor, quickly disappearing from sight.

Kisame sighed and looked around. "So that's it? After all our trouble, I was really hoping to get to fight someone…"

Hiroki laughed at the shark-man's remark and said, "Well, I guess it's a good thing, not getting very much sleep last night… I'm exhausted." He then yawned to prove his point.

Deidara went off to figure out where we would be staying for the night, Konan paused to think for a moment. "Sasori must be heading towards one of the hideouts, in order to extract the Ichibi, right? Itachi, wasn't there was one nearby?"

"Hn…Yes, I believe it was by a river about a day or two's journey away from here."

"That's good…" Kisame grinned, showing his pointed teeth. "We'll take care of business here, and then we'll head out… This should be good."

I then gave voice to one of the worries I'd been harboring since we set out this morning. "Still, Sasori was the only one who came… Should we expect more of the Akatsuki to be nearby and prepare to fight them?"

Konan pursed her lips and said, "It would be wise to prepare for any possibilities, but I do agree with you: it's suspicious that only Sasori came… For now, though, we should concentrate on regaining our strength."Her words earned nods of assent from the rest of the group, and a bark from Miyako. Hiroki bent down to scratch behind the ninken's ears as Deidara returned with directions to our lodgings. The rooms that we would be staying in were adjacent to each other, a few minutes away from where we had been previously. Itachi and Kisame took the leftmost one, Deidara, Hiroki, and Miyako in the middle, and Konan and I on the right.

I stepped into the spacious room, which had two medium-sized beds, and flopped down on the nearest one, not bothering to take off my gear. I heard Konan laugh slightly as I inhaled the fresh linens, feeling my eyelids close, weighed down like a ton of bricks, before sleep finally pulled me into its dark arms.

* * *

><p>I woke up to bright morning sunlight as I moaned gently, stretching out stiff arms and legs. Opening my eyes fully, I saw Konan across the room, sitting on the other bed and making final adjustments to her outfit. She looked up as I groaned again, not wanting to get up, and chuckled. "You're a really heavy sleeper, you know that? I think at one point I tried yelling at you to wake up, but you just kept on sleeping…" Quiet chuckles erupted into full-blown laughs as I grumbled murderously and threw a deadly projectile (a pillow, in this case) at her madly cackling form. Rubbing my eyes, I sat up in my bed and cracked my neck, still groaning at the soreness of my body. Getting up, I walked slowly into the bathroom and winced at my appearance. Messy black hair stood up in all directions and the circles under my eyes stood out against my pale skin.<p>

"Kami… I look like hell…" With a defeated sigh, I began repeatedly splashing handfuls of water on my face and brushing out my hair before pulling it up into a messy ponytail.

Konan appeared beside me and grinned. "You got that right." I glared at her reflection and she rolled her eyes in response. "Geez, calm down! You look fine!" At her last remark, she looked like she wanted to say something else, but settled for a smirk instead. I cocked an eyebrow at her but decided to let it go. After fixing up my clothes and giving myself one last once-over in the mirror to make sure I was halfway decent, I motioned for Konan to lead the way out of our room.

As I stepped outside onto the street, I was greeted by the rest of the group, all of whom looked tired, bored, and fed-up with waiting. I grinned sheepishly and waved with a timid, "Ohayo…"

Kisame responded by glaring at me. "How much sleep do you _need, _woman?"

Hiroki rolled his eyes as Miyako ran up to me, nearly tackling me as she tried to lick my face. "Still the same as always, I see, eh, Ayano? I remember one time you just wouldn't wake up, even when we dumped you out of your bed, out the window, and into the yard. My mom was worried you were dead or something and Chihiro—"_ said, "Don't worry 'bout it. If you really want to wake her up, dump a bucket of water on her head,_ I finished in my head with a sad sense of humor. He stopped abruptly, looking concerned.

I waved it off with a smile, shaking my head slightly. "No worries, Hiroki… Come on, everyone… We should get going. I took off towards the biggest building in Sunagakure, where we had been yesterday. I heard the others begin walking as well, and someone came up to walk beside me. I glanced to the side and noticed, with considerable surprise, that it was Itachi. He said nothing, but after a couple seconds, he glanced to the side and nodded almost imperceptibly. I grinned and continued walking, my thoughts much brighter as we neared what I assumed was the Kazekage's office.

* * *

><p>We were greeted at the entrance by a Sand shinobi, and he led us to the operating room where the man we had found the previous day lay on a bed. His purple face-paint had been removed, as well as his black hood, revealing messy brown hair. His eyes were closed and his breathing was labored. Then, I noticed an elderly, wrinkled, and lavender-haired woman tinkering with various glass vials and scrolls, producing different results with each concoction. When we entered, she looked up. "Who are these people? Don't tell me you've brought in <em>more<em> outside help! Nothing good ever comes from relying on others…"

The man whose face was half covered, Baki, replied with a sort of forced patience to the woman. "Chiyo-sama, they have valuable intel on the Akatsuki and are quite a skilled group of shinobi."

She examined each of us, sizing us up, one by one. I allowed myself a small grin as I imagined what our motley little crew must look like. Kisame, with his blue skin, gills, and shark teeth, was grinning in an animalistic fashion. Itachi gazed upon the scene before him with emotionless, onyx eyes as Deidara shifted restlessly, clearly eager to chase down Sasori and the rest of the Akatsuki. Konan stood calmly on my right, but we had a mutual understanding of each others' anxiety. Hiroki was to my left, and he looked a little… lost. Well, not lost, but more like he didn't quite know what do to, a feeling I could identify with. I felt kind of bad, dragging him into this, but he seemed genuinely eager to help. Miyako was her usual happy, carefree self, laying on the floor beside her master and panting.

With one last distasteful glance at Miyako, she spoke. "I do hope you don't expect me to trust you. This matter is of the utmost importance: our Kazekage has been kidnapped and his brother is in critical condition. Now why don't you make yourselves useful by helping our shinobi repair any damages to the village? And please take your dog with you. This is supposed to be a sanitary environment, ne?"

Kisame, with an annoyed look at the old woman, said, "You _do_ realize that they've already started using the Nine Phantom Dragons Sealing Jutsu to extract the Ichibi, right? And that in three or four days, your Kazekage will be dead? Admittedly, they'll be slowed down by the lack of members, but is this really the time to be delaying action?"

The lavender-haired woman glared at him, and Baki took this as a sign to leave, motioning for the rest of us to follow. Hiroki looked like he wanted to say something to Chiyo about her dog remark, but wisely kept his mouth shut. I sent him a grateful look as we exited the room, following Baki. Once Deidara closed the door behind him, Baki sighed. "My apologies for Chiyo-sama. As you can see, she doesn't look kindly upon our village relying on outside help, but…it this case, it is necessary. Now, judging from your previous membership in the Akatsuki, I assume that the majority of your relationships with your respective villages are…tedious, to say the least. A team from Konoha should be here tomorrow, and I think it would be best for all of you if you would work alongside them to reduce, however slightly, any distrust. This is going to be a hazardous situation, to say the least, especially for you, Uchiha Itachi." He gave a pointed look to Itachi, who stiffened ever so slightly. _What…? I understand that all of the members of the Akatsuki were labeled as rogue ninjas by their villages, dangerous shinobi who must be eliminated… But why would he mention Itachi in particular? _

Turning to me, Baki said, "As for you, Kiyomizu-san, it would be best if the Konoha shinobi were informed of your status as the Dragon Juubi Jinchuriki, as well as all the details surrounding that subject. And about helping clean up the damage from Sasori's attack, there isn't much left to be done, so I would suggest you prepare yourselves for the coming days. Any information you could provide our shinobi would be greatly appreciated."

With that, Baki left us, and I stood staring at the space his body had occupied just a moment ago. "What the hell? Kami… So we just have to sit around, waiting for another_ day?_ This sucks!" Everyone else nodded their agreement. Remembering what Baki had said, I glanced at Itachi for a moment. Almost as if he felt my gaze, he turned and met my eyes with his onyx orbs. He said nothing, and I had the distinct feeling that he would not answer the plethora of questions running circles in my mind, no matter how hard I pressed him. With an irritated sigh, I turned around to follow Konan, who had started walking out of the building.

"Well, we might as well go talk to the village's shinobi. We can build trust and share information, though I'm not so sure about the trust part just yet…" I trained my gaze on the back of her glossy, blue hair for lack of a better place to look while momentarily spacing-out. This was beginning to get _very_ irritating. First, why was that woman so pissed off at us?

"Doesn't like outside help…" I muttered to myself as we walked through the stifling hot village. "Give me a break…" I, for one, was under the impression that villages cared for their respective Kage a lot more than this. So why? Why stop a group of random ninjas from running off to fight an enemy against whom you have no chance? Was she that_Crazy old bat…_

The sun was at his peak, resulting in my newfound hate for the desert rising even more. _Why do people subject themselves to this? Who in their right mind would voluntarily live in a boiling-hot, dry, sandy, windy hell like this? Not to mention wearing a black, full-body suit, _I thought, remembering the strange gear the poisoned Suna shinobi had been wearing. _Baka… _

I was jolted from my thoughts as I ran into Kisame's rock-hard back, at first thinking I had hit a wall. _Well, he might as well be one with his height and muscles... _Moving slightly to peer around the large shark-man, I saw we were standing before a decent-sized group of shinobi whose expressions ranged anywhere from surprised, distrust, or hate. Konan addressed them first, fearless woman that she is. "Hello there, everyone. My name is Konan, and this is Kisame, Deidara, Itachi, Ayano, Hiroki, and Miyako. We're here to tell you everything that you'll need to know when dealing with the Akatsuki, which, hopefully, none of you will have to. The first thing you need to know is…" I tuned her out then, becoming absorbed in my thoughts once more. _Wow… I never really gave it too much thought, but I wonder how Konan, or Itachi, Deidara, and Kisame, for that matter, are feeling about this. They said that they'd been planning to desert the Akatsuki for a while now, but still… do they truly feel nothing for their old comrades? Sure they're all S-ranked criminals, but there must be… something…_

* * *

><p>I sighed, sitting on the roof of one of the taller buildings in the village. It was nearing midnight, with the moon almost directly above me, casting its beautiful light on the village and surrounding barren desert. I'd gotten a few hours of sleep in the late afternoon, tired out from speaking to seemingly endless hordes of curious shinobi. Now, though, when I should be resting up for tomorrow, I wasn't able to sleep. Of course. Konan and I talked for a while after we retired to our room, and when she went to sleep, I tried to follow suit, but failed miserably, staring at the dark ceiling for almost two hours before quietly making my way outside. The desert was considerably less horrible at night: it was quite cold, but I preferred that over the intense heat during the day. I made my way across the rooftops with bitter wind stinging my face, trying to find a nice, quiet place to sit and think.<p>

Since the fact remained that I didn't have anything better to do, my thoughts drifted to today's events, immediately drawn to Hiroki's accidental mention of Chihiro. No matter how much time passed, no matter what happened to me, the memory of my twin would not drift away. Not that I _wanted_ it to, it's just… I can't be distracted right now; I have to remain prepared for anything.

_Chihiro… Are you watching me right now? Are you watching me rush into a fight which I know nothing about? Watching me screw up everything that I've done so far while trying to make it better? Why did you have to die? Why not me? If you had lived… You wouldn't have let me die… You would have known what to do… You wouldn't have been captured by the Akatsuki… You would have saved the Kazekage… I know you would have. You were always the smarter, more prepared of the two of us. It's not fair, Chio, it's just not fair. Itachi, Konan, Deidara, Kisame, Hiroki… they need _you, _not me. They need your brain, your strategies, your strength, your skill…_

I laughed, a short, broken sound, while wiping a stray tear from the corner of my eye. _Look at me, Chihiro. Isn't this pathetic? You always said I needed to control my emotions, that they would be the death of me, and you were right. If only we hadn't been born with these eyes, with this monster inside us. Ryuu-sama… I guess she isn't that bad, compared to the other Bijuu, rather low maintenance so far, but still… How cruel fate is, how unpredictable… But I'll stop whining, now. I know, I know, "Stop being an emotional idiot, do what you must, and don't look back." I will, Chio, don't worry, just… Watch over me, will you? From wherever you are, if you're even listening… Please, and when I'm done here, I swear I'll come back to you, I'll bring you back home, and I'll rebuild it better than ever. This, I swear, to you, and to Mother, as well. _

A few more tears leaked out of my eyes, and when I opened them to the cold night air, I gasped in shock. I saw Chihiro, just a faint whisper of her, but Chihiro nonetheless. Her silver, waist-length silver curls flowed about her shoulders and her eyes sparkled as she hovered in midair about ten feet in front of me, wearing her favorite, green, knee-length kimono, which was swaying gently in the wind. Tears shone on her cheeks as well and her smile was sad, joyous, gentle, worried, and reassuring all at the same time. _Chio…_ I closed my eyes as I thought her name, and when I opened them again, she was gone.

_Gone…_ I closed my eyes once more and laid down on the rooftop, preferring unconsciousness rather than trying to sort out the mass of emotions that clogged my mind at the moment.

* * *

><p>"Ayano. Wake up." I felt someone shaking my shoulder gently but relentlessly as I slowly opened my eyes to see raven hair and narrowed onyx eyes. Itachi didn't say anything, but I could feel the question in his silence.<p>

"I… went out to get some air, and I guess I fell asleep…"

"Hn." _Yeah right. _"The others are waiting in the Kazekage's office." Of course he didn't believe me, but whatever. I sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. Straightening my clothes, I commended myself on my snap decision to bring Fang along for my midnight stroll. The sword was in its usual place, secured to the belt at my waist, and after a nod to Itachi, I followed him through the still-sleeping village, the dawn light giving a soft touch to the maze of buildings.

Within a few short minutes, Itachi and were back in the room we had been in the past two days. The man, Kankuro, I think, was his name, was screaming in pain at the poison coursing through his body, and I watched with a grim expression as the medic-nin hurried to inject him with a sedative. The old woman, Chiyo, was there as well, along with an old man whom Chiyo addressed as Ebizo. After a moment of watching Kankuro fall asleep, Ebizo began leading Chiyo to the door. "Pathetic… Having to depend on Konoha…"

* * *

><p>We spent yet another frustrating morning and afternoon lounging around the hallway, bored as hell. Baki called us back in to the room, as well as Chiyo and Ebizo, who I learned were siblings. He was about to say something, but then I heard a female voice yell, "Kankuro!" I turned around to see a kunoichi with four blonde ponytails, dark green eyes, and a long, purple kimono tied at the waist with a red obi. She pushed past me, running towards said injured shinobi, but before she could say anything more, Chiyo started running, in a very spritely fashion for someone her age, towards the three ninja that had followed the blonde kunoichi, who were from Konoha, judging from the leaf engraved on their forehead protectors. The foremost male shinobi was young, about fifteen, and had spikey blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and little whiskers on the sides of his face. The kunoichi next to him appeared to be the same age, with pink hair and pale emerald eyes. Behind them, there was a taller, older shinobi with silver, gravity-defying hair, dark eyes, a black mask that covered his lower face, and a forehead protector which covered his left eye. The latter was the one Chiyo seemed to be after. "You jerk!" She yelled. "Prepare yourself!"<p>

The man she was rushing towards seemed genuinely confused, letting out a surprised "Huh?"

Before I could even form a coherent thought, the blonde kid made a couple a shadow clones, which effectively halted Chiyo's onslaught. She jumped back, and everyone in the room was speechless with shock. _What the hell is wrong with this woman?_

The blonde shinobi seemed to read my mind as he said, "Why're you attacking Kakashi-sensei, you wrinkly old hag?" I laughed inwardly at his remark. _Nice…_

Chiyo ignored him, still staring at the man whose name I guessed was Kakashi. "I'll never forget what you did back then, White Fang of the Leaf. I shall avenge my son's death by defeating you today!"

The silver-haired man tried in vain to protest her accusations, but before Chiyo could do anything more, Ebizo appeared in front of her, saying, "Take a good look at him, onee-chan. He may look like him, but this isn't the White Fang of the Leaf. Besides, that guy died a long time ago. Remember? You were so upset when you heard because you didn't get to kill him yourself!"

The old woman hesitated for a few seconds before replying, "Gotcha! I was only pretending that I had gone senile!"

Everyone in the room deadpanned as she let out a mad string of laughter. Then, Kakashi finally looked around at all the others who were in the room. His gaze slid over each of us in turn. "Who... You!" He stopped abruptly, staring hard at Itachi and pointing an accusatory finger at him. "What are _you _doing here?"

Before the situation could get out of hand, Baki stepped between Kakashi and Itachi, raising his hands to both. "Wait a second. I understand your concern, Kakashi, but right now, we need to set aside our differences if we wish to save Gaara-sama. Please, I beg of you, do not fight right now. This is already—" Baki was cut short, however, by a strangled scream of pain from Kankuro, who was thrashing violently on the bed.

The pink haired kunoichi ran to his side, pulling up her hair and saying, "Please, all of you, stand back for now. I need to take a look at him." I followed Kakashi, the blonde shinobi, Chiyo, Ebizo, and the rest of the group outside into the hallway. Only the blonde Sand-nin stayed behind, along with the medical ninja. Kakashi's critical gaze never left Itachi as I leaned against the doorway, watching what the Konoha medical ninja was doing. After briefly inspecting the injured man's body, she stood up and said, "It appears that they used a heavy, metal-based toxin, which damages the muscles by destroying the cells." She paused to take a clipboard from one of the other medical nijas and continued. "The cardiac muscles will be destroyed and his heart will stop beating at any moment. Consequently, it isn't safe to say whether or not we'll be able to produce an antidote in time…"

The blonde Sand kunoichi in the purple kimono looked shocked by her conclusion. "Nani? You can't mean that! There must be something we can do!"

The medic closed her eyes, and after a moment, she continued. "Please collect the items on this list. I don't know if it will work, but it's the best I can do…"

* * *

><p><strong>There you are! I dunno, I'm not overly pleased with this chapter, but please let me know what you think! Oh, sorry about the excess of lines, but there were a lot of time skip thingies... Hopefully it wasn't too boring, but the next one will be better! I think... *sigh*<strong>

**Like I said, please be patient as far as my slow updating speed goes. As always, thank you for reading, and please review! Ja ne! **


End file.
